The Path Which Has Led to the Present
by Aerial312
Summary: Josh and Donna. Pre Administration, set right after Donna returns to Josh after leaving for Dr. Freeride for a little while. Continues through the Election.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present Author: Aerial312 Rating: PG Category: Angst/Romance Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Archiving: Sure. Just let me know where its going.  
A/N: I'm really into the beginning fic for some reason lately. This chapter of this story has been sitting around for a while now, and I haven't posted it because I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to take it (and I still don't), and I'm having timeline issues(it doesn't affect this chapter, but will affect future ones). Here's the issue: We know that Donna originally started working for Josh in February, then at some point left for a little while and came back at some point in April. The Illinois primary falls in mid to late March. This seems to indicate that Donna left some time after Josh's father died, which I find odd. I'm not quite sure why this bothers me so much… Anyways, this story begins with Donna returning to Josh in April…

"We can chart out future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present" -Adlai Stevenson 

Donna sat at Josh's desk sifting through a huge pile of papers that were gradually find their way to various file folders. He wasn't there, so she'd started right in on organizing the mess that had accumulated in the three weeks she'd been gone.

Three weeks. That's all it took to realize that going back to Roy had been a bad idea. She was bored in Wisconsin, especially after having spent a month on the campaign, and Roy rarely made time for her. Her three weeks of feeling useless culminated in her getting into a car accident. If she'd had any doubts before, she knew for sure that she did not belong with Roy when he stopped for a beer with friends before picking her up from the ER. Thankfully, it hadn't been a bad accident. She'd sprained her ankle, but her car was still drivable, and she left Wisconsin for New Hampshire again early the nest morning. She'd left Roy a note. A final goodbye. She didn't care what he thought anymore.

Donna was terrified of what Josh was going to say, however, when she first arrived back at the New Hampshire office. Most people were gone for the day, on a day trip up to Maine on the bus, Margaret told her, and Josh's office was a mess again, so have at it. That's how Margaret put it. Have at it. And she did. She'd been at it for 4 hours. It was nice to be busy. Organizing was cathartic for her, and it helped her take her mind off of the fear she had of the inevitable conversation with Josh. 

She was doing it again, she smiled. Just assuming she worked for him. Of course, she had no guarantee he'd take her back. She was certain at the very least she'd have to sit through being made fun of for going back to "Dr. Freeride". It meant a lot that she'd been taken on the first time; she wasn't sure he'd be as welcoming the second time, because he was upset she'd left. It had been a stupid choice. She'd been blinded by promises of happiness. She should have realized that she was happy where she was.

Donna was so consumed with her task, sitting on the floor, clipping important articles out of the old newspapers strewn around, that she didn't notice Josh in the doorway watching her. He silently watched as she snipped out article after article, and filed them away in the relevant folder. He wondered how long she'd been working on it, as there were few newspapers left on the floor, when the phone rang.

Donna quickly reached up and answered it. "Josh Lyman's office. They're back? I haven't seen…" it was then that she saw him in the doorway. "Okay, he's here. I'll tell him."

She hung up the phone. "Leo wants to see you in 10 minutes."

Josh nodded, and crossed the room to his desk. "Thank god," he muttered. "I see you've already tackled the pile on the desk."

"Organized and filed."

"Any other messages?"

"Margaret dropped off the itinerary for the trip through the Northeast."

"Ugh…two weeks on a bus."

"Right. But most of the night's you'll get to stay in a hotel."

"Really?"

"That's what it looks like."

"Excellent." 

She got up, and pulled the itinerary from his inbox and placed it in his hand. He looked over the document.

"I'll need all of the polling data we've got for, uh, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut…" he turned the paper over, "New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York. How may states are we visiting on this trip?"

"Eight. They're all fairly little." She patted a neat stack of folders on the corner of his desk. "These folder have all of the polling data, and demographics for each of the eight states, as well as the contact numbers for the local offices—"

"God, I've missed you."

"Well, I'm back for good now." Without missing a beat, she continued, "I'll make sure that this is all packed into a filebox for you to have on the bus, with copies here for me to reference if you need—"

"You're coming."

"What?"

"On the trip. I need you to keep me organized. My meeting with Leo—"

"Which is now in 5 minutes."

"—is probably about how scattered I've been of late. I've never been good at being organized, but I guess I'm especially bad at it now that I've had someone organizing me. You're coming. It's a bus trip. And you know how those make me crazy." He needed her to keep him organized…and sane.

"Okay, then. I'll make myself a filebox this afternoon. What else do you need?"

"Grab some of the folders on upcoming policy pushes, I imagine that they're in folders now—"

"They are."

"Good. And, uh, crossword puzzles. Definitely crossword puzzles."

Donna smirked. "Do I need to make you a road trip activity box?"

"I hate the bus."

"I know."

"I can't really even read on the bus."

"I'll read you things like before."

"Good. The bus is so boring."

"I'll go to the dollar store and get some of those travel games."

"That's the right idea."

"You need to go see Leo now."

"Going, going…" Josh grinned, as she pushed him out the door.

They walked down the hallway, talking.

"I'm going to check in with Margaret about all of your hotel plans. I think they're all set, but if not, I'll make them. Do you need anything else?"

They paused outside Leo's office. "Dinner, but that'll have to wait. Everyone's going to O'Malley's at like 9."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Nah. Figure out the travel plans – how early are we leaving tomorrow?"

"Bright and early. 4am."

"Ugh."

"Governor Bartlet has an 8am breakfast meeting with Governor Martin at a VFW in Montpelier."

"Great…"

"Meeting. Now." She turned his shoulders so he was facing the door, and knocked on it for him, before walking off to Margaret's desk.

He was back on track

He hadn't even asked. She couldn't believe it. He was completely cool with her presence. She was working when he arrived back, and he just let her keep going. 

Margaret had taken care of all of the hotel accommodations for Leo, Josh, Toby, Sam CJ, so there was nothing left for Donna to do on that front. She walked back to Josh's office to continue picking away at the mess. 

Josh was sitting in his chair with his feet on the desk, reading a paper when she returned. 

"Quick meeting?"

"Leo's pleased you're back too."

Donna smiled and walked over to the desk. Her ankle was bothering her. "You want me to finish sorting those memos?"

He watched her inquisitively as she came over to him. Something was amiss. "Are you limping?"

"Um…"

Josh jumped out of his chair, and guided her towards it. "Sit down."

"I'm fine."

"Sit."

She sat in the chair and he sat on his desk facing her. 

"Your ankle is wrapped. What happened? Do you need to put it up on something?" He scooted over, so that if she needed to she could put her foot on the desk.

"It's okay. It's getting better. I…I slipped on some ice." She didn't want to get into the real story.

"Ice?"

"There's still ice in Wisconsin right now. Late thaw."

"Okay. Did you get it checked out?"

"Yes. It's just a slight sprain. Nothing really."

"When did it happen?"

"Night before last."

"And then you drove a thousand miles here from Wisconsin?"

"I had already decided to leave."

"You're okay? Really?"

"I'm really okay. It was stupid. I didn't see a patch of ice—"

"Forgot to put down the kitty litter?"

"Right…"

She looked up at Josh for a moment. He seemed so concerned, even as he made joke about he situation she had invented. Quite the change from Roy. 

"Thanks for caring."

He smiled at her. One of those big grins of his, that showed off his dimples. He looked at his watch. "I'm starving. Ready for some dinner? My treat, for the incredible amount of work you did today to clean up the mess that was my office."

Donna stood up, and walked toward the door.

"And to express just how happy I am that you came to your senses and came back"

She grinned broadly. "I'm glad to be back."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (2?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.  
A/N: A short little installment.

Josh stared at a folder as the bus moved along. The first day of the trip, through Vermont, was uneventful and long. Stump, then grip and grin. Over and over and over. Tonight, they were driving from Northern Vermont to Boston. They'd finished u p in Burlington at 1 AM, and had an 8 AM breakfast in Boston, so drive through the night it was. They'd get in around 5 or 6 AM. It was now about 3 AM, and they were somewhere in Southern Vermont or Western Massachusetts. Josh wasn't sure. Next to him, Donna was dozing. She had no problem sleeping on the bus. So far he had managed to successfully fight the urge to poke her awake. Mostly because he feared her wrath at hearing that it was just because he was bored.

He reached down to put the folder back into his backpack. It was making him nauseous to read in the moving vehicle. As he fumbled through his bag for anything else that he could possibly do, Donna stirred.

"You should get some sleep."

"You don't think I've tried?"

"Were you trying to read?"

"Yeah, and now I feel really sick."

"Aww…" She reached over and rubbed his back.

That felt nice.

"Anything, I can do for you, Josh?"

He shrugged, and remained bent over, giving her full access to his back. "I don't know." Keep doing that for a while?

In silence, she continued to massage his back with the heel of her hand. He started to drift off.

"Josh," Donna called gently. "You can't sleep with your head between your knees. All your blood will rush to your head and you'll get a headache."

Josh began to sit up slowly. She was right. All of his blood was already beginning to rush to his head.

"Do you want me to move so you can lay down?"

"All the seats are full."

"I can sit on the floor."

"Donna…"

"I could."

"No." He sat back, and looked over at him. She had this very earnest expression on her face. "Thank you for offering, but no. I won't do that to you."

She smiled. "Offer stands."

Josh nodded.

"Why don't you lean back the chair?"

"It won't help."

"Do you want me to rub your back some more?"

Yes. "That's okay."

"You sure?"

Josh shrugged, and tried to block the idea of laying on her lap out of his head. He wasn't quite sure where that one had come from, and he knew it wasn't a good idea.

"I've got an idea."

"Oh?" This was going to be quite sad if she'd had the same idea and he had to strike it down.

"Put your knapsack on your lap."

He was confused, but he did as she instructed. Donna pulled her coat out from under her seat, rolled it into a ball, and put it on top of Josh's bag.

"Pillow"

Josh put his head on her makeshift pillow. "Not bad."

"This is kind of the position you were sleeping in before. Without the whole blood rushing to your head thing."

"Mmmhmm." Donna's hands were on his back again and it was depriving him of all coherent thought.

"Close your eyes."

Josh did as he was told. She continued to rub his back, and he drifted quickly off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (3?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

Josh shivered against the chilly April air. He'd thought he'd be fine running from the hotel to the bus without his jacket, but it was unseasonably cold. The bus was also much further across the parking lot than he'd anticipated. The door opened for him as he approached.

"Cold tonight, huh?" the driver asked.

"Yeah. You have to stay in here?"

"Well someone's got to be here to let you folks in in the middle of the night if you need something. Or, rather, when you need something. It's fine though. Better than the Motel 6. Usually there's a couple a interns sleeping in the back too."

"Really?" It occurred to Josh that he had no idea where Donna was staying.

"Yep. No one likes the roach motels."

"Is it always this cold in here?"

"Usually, its pretty warm. Got a call into maintenance. We'll get serviced tomorrow when we pull into Providence. This area here don't got what we need. I went into the hotel here, explained out situation, and they let me borrow some blankets for the kids in the back."

"That's nice."

"Anything you need, Mr. Lyman?"

"I'm just looking for a few folders."

"Working really late tonight, huh?"

"As always. I'll be out in a minute so you can get back to sleep. Hopefully I can find what I'm looking for quickly."

"Well your girl's back there. Donna'll know where it is."

"Yeah, she will."

Josh walked down the aisle toward the back, feeling kind of bad that Donna was sleeping on the bus. He went through the curtain partition and paused. Donna was the only one back there tonight. The other volunteers must have decided that on such cold night, it was worth the roach motels. She sat in one of the chairs sleeping uncomfortably, wrapped in a blanket. Josh leaned in, and gently lay hiss hand on her shoulder.

"Hey."

Donna stirred. "Hi."

"I…uh…came out here to find the folders for Providence tomorrow."

Donna looked at her watch groggily. "Its 3AM."

"Yeah, I can't sleep."

"Josh…"

"Do you know where they are?"

"Far back section. In the red file box. Alphabetical order."

"Thanks."

Josh trotted back to retrieve the folders, which were exactly where Donna said they would be. She was settling in again, when Josh came back.

"It's cold out here tonight."

"Where's your coat?"

"I was just running out quickly…you…Can you even sleep out here? You seem uncomfortable…you should—"

"I'm fine. I'm from Wisconsin. I can deal with the cold."

"You should come inside."

"And stay where? The bus is free—"

"Donna…"

"No really, Josh. I'm…I'm fine."

"Come stay with me." Damn that thinking out loud.

"Josh…"

"Come inside. Warm up. You're freezing, despite your attempt at bravado."

"I don't know."

"We can work a little while—"

"Josh, I'm tir—"

"And if you fall asleep, you fall asleep."

Donna looked at Josh for a moment. He took her hand and pulled her up.

"Fine. We can work for a little while."

Josh had no intention of making her work, but she seemed hesitant to join him without the pretense.

This was silly, Donna thought. Why did she feel so odd about going to sleep in Josh's room? She'd slept next to him on the bus plenty of times. And it was cold out. She currently lay on her stomach on the bed, several folders splayed in front of her. She had her left arm extended in front of her, and her head on it. Josh sat against the headboard on the other side.

"Why don't you get some sleep?"

"You sure you don't want some more help?"

"Nah. Rest."

"You should get some sleep too."

"Don't you have pajamas?" Josh asked , looking up as she tugged at covers and rolled in in her jeans and sweater.

"No actually. I planned on sleeping on the bus."

"Oh." Josh jumped off the bed and crossed to his suitcase, fishing around for something. He turned back to her holding up a faded Mets T-shirt and pair of boxers. "Here."

"That's okay—"

"Donna, just put on the damn—"

"Fine," she laughed, climbing up, and taking his offered pajamas to the bathroom.

Josh was reading again when she returned, but he was now sitting under the covers, in his undershirt and boxers. His pants and dress shirt had been thrown on the floor. Donna resisted the urge to pick them up, and instead crawled under the covers. A bed was nice.

"You should go to bed."

"I will…I just want to finish this article."

"Just that one?"

"Yeah…"

"Promise?"

"I promise. Does…uh…the light…bother you?"

She could lie, and tell him it did, and get him to come to sleep. "No, not really."

"Well, this won't be much longer."

"Okay, then. Good night." If you could call it night. It was now near 4AM, and they had to be up at 7 for a 8 o'clock breakfast thing with local leadership downstairs in the hotel's event room. Donna closed her eyes.

Josh looked over at her, just watching her fall asleep for a few seconds. Then he closed the folder, settled down into the covers, and clicked off the light.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (4?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I'm staying true to the canon timeline, I decided. So Josh's father has died, and it was before Donna left the first time.

"No, I wasn't kidding. I really don't want to go." Donna flopped down on the edge of the bed.

"You don't?"

"I don't"

Josh spun to face her. "Why?"

"I just don't feel like going to a big event tonight. Its supposed to be a night off for everyone except the very few important people."

"You're important—"

"Ha!" Donna shook her head, but smiled, "Only to you."

Josh grinned. "So then…would you…for me—"

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"It'll be fun."

"What fun will I have at a big fundraiser? Besides answering your cell phone, and retrieving information you want?"

"You've had fun at fundraisers before."

"Nothing like this one. This one is going to be a bunch of really dressy, really snooty people. Just let me have the night off in peace. We've had an exhausting few days. And I've even gotten more sleep than you have."

"I've slept."

"Barely. You've probably gotten 6 hours in the last 3 days."

"More than that."

"I doubt it. One night off."

"So you can watch TV in my hotel room?"

"I can read on the bus."

Josh pouted. "No, you can stay here." He sat on the bed beside her. "You really don't want to go?"

"No…" Truth was she did. But she couldn't, and it would be too embarrassing to explain the why part to him.

"Okay. Enjoy your night off. Don't say I never—"

"Sure…it only took 15 minutes of arguing—"

"Still—"

The phone rang.

"Josh Lyman," Donna answered. "Hi Leo…sure…I'll come down. Sure, I'll bring him. We'll be down in the minute."

"Leo wants to see me. He wants you to come downstairs too."

"Okay."

"Does Leo know about this?"

"About what?"

"That I've been staying in your room."

"Uh…not exactly."

"Do you think that he'll be mad?"

"He might be, but I don't care. The campaign can't afford to pay you yet—and believe me, I'm trying—and you're not sleeping on the bus. He'll understand, and as long as he knows we're keeping it kind of hush hush, he'll be fine."

"Okay…"

"Don't worry. I think he just wants to make sure he knows the exact times I'll be at my par…mom's tomorrow."

"Which are?" Donna drilled.

"I leave the hotel at 10:00. I make it to mom's by 11:00 at the latest. I depart by 3:30pm at the latest, and meet the campaign in New York City around 5:30, 6ish depending on traffic. We hope."

"Good."

"And the fundraiser begins at 7. The fundraiser you won't come to."

They arrived at the door to the conference room.

"He wants to see you first." Margaret pointed at Donna, and she went in.

"Hello, there. I'll just be a second," Leo told her, looking up from a folder. "How are you tonight, kiddo?"

"I'm good, sir."

"We've got a slow night tonight. Everyone will actually be able to get some sleep."

"We're going to be working on the environmental plan tonight."

"Don't let him work you too late."

"Okay."

"And make sure he gets some sleep tonight."

"I'll try, sir. There only so much will that you can impose on—"

"I know. He's stubborn as an ox. How much sleep has he been getting?"

"2 or so hours a night. If."

"That's what I thought. I hope you're getting something more than that."

"Yes, sir."

"How much?"

"5 hours, usually."

"Good. Did you make Josh an itinerary for his trip tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir. I booked him a rental car, that he'll pick up across the street. He'll leave at 10, after the morning meetings, and drive up—"

"I want you to go with him."

"Sir?"

"Okay, we can dispense with the 'sir'. Leo. I want you to go with him. He's too exhausted to drive."

"I…uh…I don't think he'd go for that. It's the first time he's seen his mom since he was home for the funeral…"

"I'm aware of that. Which is all the more reason to make sure he gets there safely. You're going. And you're driving."

"I…I don't want to get in the middle of a private moment."

"Donna…she's worried about him. She doesn't want him driving. And its not like you're a complete stranger. Hell she says she talks to you on the phone twice as often as she catches Josh."

"Okay."

"Good. So tomorrow, leave a copy of the travel plan with Margaret, so that I'll have some idea of when to expect him back."

"Yes, si—Leo."

"Send him in."

Donna scooted out the door. Josh was sitting on the edge of Margaret's table, oblivious to her glare.

"Your turn," Donna announced.

"How'd it go?"

"It was fine."

Josh nodded, and entered the conference room. "What can I do for you, Leo?"

"Do you have the names of the folks that you've been assigned to sweet talk tomorrow night?"

"I do. Donna left it for me somewhere."

"Please look at it."

"I will. Leo, is Margaret going to the fundraiser?"

"Of course. If she gets to go, she goes. She doesn't miss these things."

"Ah."

"Why?"

"Donna doesn't want to go."

"So? She doesn't have to."

"I know that, but last time—back in February—she was dying to go."

"Maybe it lost its charm? Women are strange like that."

"There's gotta be a reason…"

"So your trip tomorrow…"

"I've got the schedule. Donna made me an hour by hour plan, practically."

"Donna's going with you."

"She…what?"

"I'm sending her with you. She's driving. I want you there and back safely and on time—"

"I think I know how to drive to my par—my mother's house—"

"The time thing is not really the issue. Josh, you've gotten 2 hours of sleep a night for this whole trip. You're not up to driving."

"We have a slow night tonight."

"Donna said that you guys were working."

Josh looked down at the ground. "A month ago, I would have brought Donna with me in a heartbeat…I just…this is going to be the first time its just mom and me…I don't know what she'll—"

"Josh, your mom called me."

"She called you?"

"Wanted to know if you'd been sleeping. Eating. The normal things that moms want to know."

"She gets that info from Donna."

"I know. She already knew all my answers to her questions. But she knows I'm the boss. So I'm to tell you that you're not allowed to drive tomorrow. Donna is going to drive, and your mom knows she's coming. It was her idea."

"It was my mom's idea that Donna come?"

Leo nodded. "She wants to "meet the sweet girl I talk to all the time". She said she's been talking to Donna almost every day."

"I know. And I keep forgetting to call her back until its like midnight."

"So, get some rest tonight, and be a good son tomorrow. Tell Rita I said hello."

"I will." Josh stepped out of the room.

Donna was leaning against the wall. "He tell you?" They began to walk back to Josh's room.

"Yeah."

"You okay with this?"

"I'm fine…they didn't leave us much choice."

"They?"

"Mom put Leo up to it. She was worried about me."

"She should be."

"We won't work that late tonight."

Donna grinned, and pressed the button for the elevator. The rode in silence, until Josh turned to her.

"Are you okay with going?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering if you thought it was weird."

"It would be weird if I didn't talk to your mom almost everyday."

"Did you know she was going to do this."

"No…she didn't tell me she was going to make Leo send me too…just that she wanted to meet me…which I guess I could have put together."

Josh smiled and handed Donna the key card to their room to open it. "It'll be fun."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (5?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I'm staying true to the canon timeline, I decided. So Josh's father has died, and it was before Donna left the first time.

Josh bounced into the campaign manager's office, shoving a muffin into his mouth. "Morning!"

"You're chipper."

"Well, I was please to wake up to see that we are now only down 5 points."

"On our tracking polls, yes. Promising sign. I'm glad to hear you slept."

"Well, I was persuaded that watching a movie and getting some rest was a better activity than working the night before our little journey."

"You're not giving her a hard time about this, are you?"

"Why would you thin—?" Leo shot him a glare. "No. No, I'm not. I'm actually looking forward to the company."

"Good. Make sure you tell your mother that I say hi."

"I will. You need me to do anything before we head out?"

"Nah, I think I'm set with you for now."

Josh started for the door.

"Except to say that you had better be on your best behavior tonight at the thing."

"Of course."

"I mean it. Smile. Look like you're enjoying yourself. These people already gave us money, so no hammering political opinion down their throats. Polite schmoozing."

"I'll try."

"You'd better."

"I will, I will…"

"But?"

"I won't have Donna there to turn to if I start to get snarky."

"Josh…just be an adult and keep your…snarkiness to yourself."

"I'll try."

"Josh!"

"You could tell Donna that she had to go, to keep me in check, if you're worried about it."

"Josh, I am not getting in the middle of that. You know perfectly well that you can keep your attitude under control if you try hard enough. You want Donna to go, you do not need her to keep you in check."

"But it makes it easier."

"Go. I have work to do."

Josh smiled, and head for the door. He turned back and looked at the older man. "Leo?"

"What is it now?"

"Do you think we might be able to put Donna on salary soon?"

"You know that money is tight right now."

"She does really great work. She's got superhuman organizational skills."

"I'm aware of that. She keeps you in check. I'll be honest, Josh. I was close to giving into you and putting her on salary a month ago. But then she left. She hasn't even been back a week yet. I'm going to give it a little longer and make sure she sticks it out this time."

"I'm worried that she won't be able to stick it out if she doesn't start to make some money."

"Josh…we just don't have the money for it right now. Two weeks, after we finish this swing through the northeast, and she's still doing a great job, ask again. But for now, I'm sorry, but I can't."

Leo turned back to the document on his desk, and Josh left the room, scowling. In the main room, Margaret was talking to Mrs. Landingham at the older woman's desk.

Margaret looked at Josh. "You didn't ruin his good mood did you?"

Josh shrugged, and Margaret scowled at him, going back to her desk.

"It's too early for a cookie, Joshua."

"I know that."

"If I wasn't sitting here, you just take one. Margaret says you do it all the time."

"So do Sam and CJ and Toby."

"You kids need to eat real breakfasts."

"I had a muffin."

"Uh huh. What can I do for you then, Joshua?"

"Could I have an envelope, Mrs. Landingham?"

"Manila, plain white, white with the logo—"

"The one with the logo."

She pulled one from the neat stack on her desk. He started to take it, then handed it back to her.

"Mrs. Landingham, could you write Donna's name on it for me?"

He knew Donna would guess that something was up if it was his writing on the envelope. Mrs. Landingham gave him an odd look, but did as he asked.

"Thanks!"

Josh trotted across the room, to an empty desk in the vast hotel war room, and sat down. He pulled out his wallet. She'd kill him if she knew he was doing this, but he couldn't risk losing her again. He withdrew a fifty, a twenty and three tens and put them in the envelope, sealing it quickly. He had just finished putting his wallet away, when he spied Donna across the room, talking to Margaret. He waved, and she crossed the room to him dragging their suitcases.

"These are making the trip down on the bus. We just have to leave them there."

"Okay. Where do we pick up the car?"

"Across the street at the Avis."

Josh followed her out to the bus, with the envelope tucked into side of his backpack.

"I don't see why I can't drive now."

"Leo ordered me to."

"But that was before I got a full night's sleep."

"Orders are orders."

"Well, I'm your boss, and I'm order—"

"And Leo is your boss, so he trumps you. Get in."

Josh faked indignation but did as he was told. "I can certainly navigate us from New Haven to Westport without your silly Mapquest directions."

"It's a simple route…95 south the whole way."

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Wrong. 95 south, to the Merritt Parkway. Much nicer, and my par—my mom's house is much closer to the exit off the Merritt than the exit off 95."

"You're sure?"

"Donna, I grew up here."

"How long a—?"

"And then I went to law school in New Haven. I know how to get from New Haven to Westport!"

"You make it sound like you went to visit your parents all the time when you were in law school."

"I used to see them…more than I do now."

She backed off, and got herself settled in the driver's seat.

"Oh! I almost forgot. When I went to visit Leo…while the campaign still can't afford to put you on salary..." He pulled out the envelope, and she looked at him with wide eyes. "You are now deemed worthy of a stipend."

"A stipend?"

"Apparently. I have no idea what's in it. It was sealed when I got it."

He handed the envelope over to her. She turned it over suspiciously. "Who's handwriting is this?"

"I don't know," he dismissed, but she thrust it in his line of sight. "Mrs. Landingham, maybe?"

"Hmm…that would make sense." She torn the envelope open. "Cash?"

"I guess that's how they do stipends."

"I guess."

"Just put it away and lets go. If I'd known you were going to spend an hour pondering it, I would have waited until we were at my mother's before I gave it to you."

"Okay, okay." Donna tucked the money into her purse, and started the car.

They rode for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

"Here," Josh pointed. "This is the exit you want for the Merritt."

"You're sure…yeah, yeah, you drove this at least once a month through law school."

"It was more than once a month."

She cocked her eyebrow at him.

"It was. I know…it seems like I never talk to my mom now, but when I was still in school…especially law school…I saw my parents all the time. I was half an hour away, and I was studying the same profession my father was a major player in. I came home a lot."

"You closer to your dad than your mom?"

Josh shrugged. "I guess so. He was really proud at first that I'd chosen to be a lawyer."

"At first?"

"Well, as you can see, I don't exactly practice law."

"Ah. Dad was disappointed?"

"He got over it, when I started working in the Senate, and it was clear that I was good at what I did."

"It was clear, was it?" she grinned.

"Abundantly."

She smacked his arm. "Did you inherit your ego from him in addition to your intelligence?"

"I think so."

"And your mom?"

"What did I inherit from my mom?"

"Yeah."

"The unruly, curly brown hair."

Donna laughed.

"The dimples." Which he promptly flashed.

"Your mom has dimples too?"

"Not as big as mine." He continued to flash them. "Joanie and I both got mom's looks."

Donna nodded encouragingly. Josh didn't talk about his sister often.

"The wild hair, dark eyes, and dimples. Dad had dark hair and eyes too, but what we got was clearly mom's. There's this one picture of us all from when I was like five, and Joanie, and mom, and I all have this same expression on our face, with the dimples out."

"I'd love to see that."

"I'm sure my mom still has it."

Josh got quiet. They rode in silence again for a while.

"Ooh. Westport, next exit."

"Here we go. Take a right at the bottom of the exit."

"Are you nervous?"

"Nervous?"

"Last time you saw your mom was at the funeral. There were lots of people around. Are you nervous about seeing her alone?"

"I'm not alone."

"I mean, without lots of family around for her."

"I'm not alone. But yes, I'm nervous. It's just weird…you know? To go back home and know my dad's not there anymore. I'm worried I won't know what to say. Take a left here. A right at the stop sign, then the first left."

"You'll think of something."

"I don't know…but you will. You're never at a loss for conversation. You'll save me if I start to falter."

Donna nodded and smiled softly at him. "Number 38, right?"

"Yeah."

Donna pulled the car to a stop. "We're here."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (6?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

"How was the drive?"

"Good," Josh replied.

"There Merritt Parkway is beautiful," Donna answered on top of him.

"Oh, good. You took the Merritt."

"Yeah, I think I know how to get from New Haven to here—"

"Who drove?"

"She did. She had orders from Le—"

"And me."

"Even though I got a full night's sleep last night."

"Probably the first time you've slept more than 2 hours in a night all week."

"No!" Josh protested, but Donna was nodding her head from behind him on the couch.

Mrs. Lyman laughed, and whipped around to face Donna, who was smirking at him.

"You need to continue to get some sleep, Joshua."

"I know, mom. I know. There just aren't enough hours in the day for what I need to get done."

"Uh huh. You're soooo important."

"I really kinda am, mom."

She stood up and grinned at him. Donna smiled to see the broad dimples that Josh shared with her.

"Do you kids want some coffee?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, please."

"See, she gets me coffee."

Donna smacked him hard on the arm.

"Ow!"

Mrs. Lyman turned back around in the kitchen doorway to face them. "What was that?"

Donna blushed. Perhaps hitting Josh in front of his mother was bad idea. "Uh…"

Josh smirked. "She hit me, because I made a comment about how you were getting me coffee."

Mrs. Lyman gave them an odd look, so Josh continued.

"She won't bring me coffee. Ev-er."

"Well, if you're going to be that obnoxious about it, maybe I won't bring you coffee either."

"Mom!"

"If she's as valuable to your office as you say she is, then she's too valuable to be fetching your coffee. You have two feet."

Mrs. Lyman turned an entered the kitchen.

"But its arbitrary!" Josh stood up.

"Its not arbitrary."

"How do you figure? You'll do all sorts of above and beyond type things, you'll get my lunch…but you won't get me coffee."

"We've been over this."

Josh sighed. "It brings back bad memories. From Dr. Freeride."

Donna nodded. Silence fell over the room, and Josh wandered over to the fireplace.

"Donna, dear, how do you take your coffee?"

"Milk and sugar. I can come do it if you want."

"No, honey, I've got it. Joshua?"

Josh didn't answer. He wasn't paying attention. Donna looked over at him, and saw that he had picked up a photo from the mantle and was turning it over in his hands.

"He wants cream and three sugars."

Mrs. Lyman laughed, as she entered the room with the coffees. "You won't get him coffee, but you know how he takes it."

Donna smiled.

"Joshua, your coffee," Mrs. Lyman extended the mug. "Joshua…"

"What? Oh…"

"Your coffee."

Josh took it, and sat back down on the sofa beside Donna.

"So what's next for you kids?"

Josh was staring into his coffee cup.

"Tonight he's got a fundraiser gala. Then we continue our Northeast swing. On to Pennsylvania."

"Oh. Where is this fundraiser that you guys are going to?"

"Its at the St. Regis, in midtown."

"Oh, that's a nice one."

"Donna nodded. "Hopefully a nice soft bed."

"Will you be there long enough to enjoy that, with a late fundraiser?"

"Oh, I'm not going."

"He's not letting you go to one of the fun events? Just the hard work?"

Donna glanced over at Josh. He was in his own little world for sure, as he hadn't made it clear that he wanted her to go.

"I just want a night off."

"No interest in the ball?"

Donna shrugged.

Mrs. Lyman looked nervously at her son. "Josh, honey, what about you? Are you looking forward to the gala tonight?"

Josh looked up. "Not really."

"No?"

"It'll be boring, and I'll have to pretend to be interesting, and as Leo said, be on my best behavior. Alone."

Donna bit her lip. There was the bitterness she had been expecting earlier.

"Mom, do you mind if I go take a walk in the back?"

"No, go ahead."

He turned to Donna. "Do you mind?"

She shook her head, and he continued out of the room and out the door.

"I worried this was going to be hard for him. I thought it wouldn't be as bad if he brought you."

"He's just got to work it over in his head. He's been to busy to really come to terms…"

"That's what he needs to do now."

"Yeah. He was worried about this too. He thought that my coming would help him too"

"I don't think he meant to snap that at you, about going alone."

"He wants me to go. But no, I don't think he meant to be that harsh either."

"Donna, honey, why don't you want to join him. It might be good for him."

Donna looked into the depths of her coffee.

"You want to go?"

"It's…just…"

"You don't have a dress."

"No, I don't."

"This is the first big gala you've been invited to?"

"I went to one before…before I left. But we knew well in advance…I had my parents mail me my prom dress," Donna laughed.

"Your prom dress?"

"Thankfully I had gone for black, simple and tasteful."

"You didn't bring it back with you?"

"I left in such a hurry, it didn't even cross my mind. I wasn't even sure if he'd take me back."

"Of course he took you back. He was lost without you."

"That's what I hear," Donna said nervously.

"Do you want to go to the fundraiser?"

"I'd go if I could. I have nothing even remotely appropriate."

"Come with me. I've got a bunch of old formal dresses in the attic. You're a bit taller than me, but I was close to that thin when I was younger. We'll find you something to wear."

Mrs. Lyman tugged on Donna's arm, and they climbed the stairs to the attic.

"You have so much here."

"I don't think I've ever thrown one out. Hmm…now they're all old. We're looking for something that looks retro, as opposed to out of date."

Donna laughed.

"See anything you like yet, dear? Anything here is fair game."

"Really?"

"I haven't worn any of these dress in…a very long time."

"They're all so pretty…Ooh! Can I try this one?"

Donna held up a light yellow strapless dress, with a full, puffy skirt."

"The volume of the skirt will make up for the length discrepancy."

"Its beautiful."

"Go behind that rack and put it on for me."

"Sure."

"I think that dress is older than you are, my dear."

"Really?"

"It may be nearly the same age as Joshua."

"Its still in great shape."

Donna stepped out from behind the clothing rack. The skirt hung to mid-calf on her.

"We have a winner."

Donna grinned. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. You are so excited. Look at you."

Donna could feel herself blushing at the attention.

"Do you have shoes?"

"I have a pair of dressy sandals I can wear."

"Heels?"

"Not too high. In really high heels I'm taller than Josh."

Mrs. Lyman laughed. "Let me find a garment bag for you to put that in."

"Mom! Where are you guys?"

"We're in the attic! We'll be down in a minute!" Mrs. Lyman shouted. "You go change back, honey. I've got a bag here."

A few seconds later, Josh came pounding up the stairs. "What's going on up here?"

"We're just going through my old dresses."

Donna stepped out from behind the clothing rack again, handing the pale yellow dress back over to Mrs. Lyman.

"What's that?"

"It's the dress I'm lending Donna."

"For what?"

"She's decided to go to the fundraiser after all. I'm going to go down and make us some sandwiches for lunch. It should be ready in ten minutes."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lyman."

Josh watched his mother go down the stairs, then turned to Donna. "I'm sorry I got rude earlier…I promised Leo I wouldn't hound you about this."

"Its okay. Are you feeling a little better?" Donna put her hand on his arm and looked right into his eyes.

He covered her hand with his. "A little. This is hard. Harder than I thought it would be."

Donna nodded, "The fresh air helped?"

"I went out back to my father's garden. Its more of a landscaped garden than a plant garden…its really quiet and calm out there."

"Good."

"How did my mom change your mind? She's not pushing you too hard is she? Cause I really did promise Leo I'd stop being a jerk about it, and as much as I'd like company I under—"

"I want to go."

"I thought—"

"I want to—"

"What changed your mind though?"

Donna blushed, and crossed toward the stairs. "She lent me a dress."

Josh and Donna sat playing Boggle with Mrs. Lyman.

"I won again!" Josh proclaimed.

"Well, as much as I hate to deprive your ego of another win, we do need to get going in case traffic is bad."

"I'm so glad I'm not driving now."

"I'm a little terrified of driving in Manhattan."

"You're making her drive in Manhattan?"

"I, uh…I can drive."

"I'm sure I can do it, its just the biggest city I've ever driven in is Madison."

"You're not driving into the city!" Mrs. Lyman protested.

"How do you propose—"

"Do you have a lot in the car?"

"Just us."

"Where does the rental car come from?"

"Uh…"

"Avis."

"I'll call up the local Avis, and we'll drop it off here. Then I'll take the two of you to the Metro-North station and you'll take the train in—"

"We can mana—"

"You'll take the train."

"That sounds like a great idea, Mrs. Lyman."

"Why didn't you think of that in your master planning?"

"Says Mr. I-Drove-This-Route-All-The-Time-in-Law-School."

Mrs. Lyman laughed. "Let's get this plan started, so that you are still running on time. I want you both to have a good time tonight."


	7. Chapter 7

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (7?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: It occured to me as I wrote this part that the last two chapters have been lacking in the stream of thought commentary...I may rework them

"The train was a good idea."

Donna and Josh sat in a cluster of 4 seats, riding forward, with their feet on the backwards facing pair.

"Because you're too afraid to drive into Manhattan."

"Josh, I've never driven in a major city—"

"Just Madison—" he grinned.

"Yes, Just Madison. Have you ever driven into Manhattan?"

"No…not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"I drove into Queens to visit a friend once."

"That doesn't count."

"Yes, it does. Queens is part of New York City."

Dodging the question, like a true politician.

"Yes, but my question was if you'd ever driven into Manhattan."

"No, I've always taken the train in."

"Ha!"

"But I'm not afr—"

"Yes, you were."

"No…I'm just not allowed to drive today, isn't that correct."

He jabbed her in the arm as he made his point.

"Anyways…" Donna began, "we'll make it into the city earlier than expected. No traffic."

"Do you want to sight see a little? Is that what you're getting at?"

"Actually, I was thinking that I might try to find cuter shoes to wear with this dress."

Josh groaned.

"What? You don't have to join me."

"Of course I do."

"Why?"

Josh sat up, and turned to face her. "I am not letting you wander the streets of New York City by yourself."

Aww. That was so nice of him. Nice, but condescending. "I'm a big girl."

"You're a 25 year-old, pretty, blonde girl from the Midwest."

"So?" He did just call her pretty…but he was still patronizing.

"So, you'd be an easy target."

"So you're coming shopping with me?"

"The stipend burning a hole in your pocket?"

"I…its just…I have this absolutely beautiful dress…I want to…I can probably find something that'll do it justice for pretty cheap." The dress was gorgeous. Donna knew she didn't really have anything that would stand up to it, but she had already been too floored with Mrs. Lyman's largess to indicate as such.

"Relax. I'm just teasing. That's what the money is for…the little things that come up…so you can get by in this crazy environment."

Donna sighed. "I guess I should think more about food and lodging."

"No, this stipend…its not enough for you to think about lodging…wait till you've got a real salary. What we've been doing works for now, yeah?"

"Yeah…" He was suggesting that they continue to share a bed for the foreseeable future. Okay, twist her arm.

"I ga—you're getting a stipend now," Josh began.

What was that little slip at the beginning?

"Because I want you to be able to take care of yourself. You're important to me…my office falls apart without you, as we learned. I need you on top of your game, not worried that you'll run out of money and get sweet talked into going back to Dr. Freeride again."

Oh boy. Here was the conversation that they never had at the beginning of the week.

"I'll never go back to him again."

"Good."

Good? What, was he jealous?

"I didn't really want to leave…the only reason Roy was able to persuade me to come ho—come back," for some reason Donna couldn't bring herself to call Wisconsin home. "the only reason was that I was flat broke"

"I wish you'd told me," Josh said quietly.

"It wasn't exactly the right time for that…"

"I know, but—"

"I just didn't know what to do…I was a wreck, no money, no food…and his offer became more and more appealing…I couldn't bother you," Josh started to protest, but Donna continued. "What? You wanted me to break down crying because I had no money when you had much tougher things, like your father's death on your mind? Josh, I couldn't do it."

Donna's eyes were glazing over, and Josh took her hand.

"So, I went back. For three miserable weeks. I was terrified when I first got back…that you'd hate me for leaving."

"Never. I was upset, but—"

"I should have been there for you then…I mean, your da—"

The tears were flowing now.

"Donna, its okay."

"I should have been there."

Josh pulled Donna into his arms. "You came to your senses."

Sniffing back the tears, Donna smiled, and settled against Josh's shoulder. His arms felt so good. Strong and warm. She could get used to this. But really, she couldn't. She knew that. As good as he felt, he was off limits.

"So, I can probably find what I need at a Payless."

"I'm sure we can find one of those. What does your dress look like?"

"You've seen it."

"Hung over my mother's arm. Not on. You had just taken it off when I came up to the attic."

"Well then, you're just going to have to wait until later. Be surprised."

"I hate surprises."

"You'll like this one." Uh oh. Had she really just said that out loud?

"Well, we'll see if we live up to the hype…ow!"

She pinched his side, hard.

"You deserved that."

They sat in silence for a little while. The train plunged underground.

"Almost there…you awake?" Josh looked down at Donna, who was still settled comfortably against his chest.

"Mmmhmm…just thinking."

"About what?"

"How hard was it for you to finagle getting me a stipend?"

"Not hard at all." Not exactly a lie.

"No?"

"No. You deserve it. Leo just can't put you on salary yet."

Truth was, she'd never heard of anyone being put on stipend, and had the suspicion that he was doing this out of his own pocket. He'd never admit it. She was better off not knowing for sure.

"Well, thank you." That was general enough.

Josh smiled. "No problem. You're invaluable, remember that."

"I'll try."


	8. Chapter 8

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (8)  
Author: Aerial312 Rating: PG Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Archiving: Sure. Just let me know where its going.  
A/N: So the dress I'm describing, in this chapter and chapter 6 is the dress that Janel wore to the 2003 SAG awards. You can see a picture of it on IMDB.

Josh stood by a table of hors d'ouevres looking impatiently at the entrance to the large ballroom. Donna had insisted that she'd meet him downstairs, that she needed to finish primping for what she termed the greatest social event I have ever been to, and he needed to go downstairs and start mingling. Well, he was mingling with a table full of little sandwiches cut into odd shapes and other strange looking things that he wouldn't put in his mouth if he were paid to. He hadn't actually seen the dress yet, not on her. This he was looking forward to. The way Donna talked about the dress, it must be exquisite. 

"You look like you need this," Sam quipped, as he handed Josh a glass of champagne.

"Thanks."

"Oooh, what are these?"

"I have no clue. If you can tell me what it is, maybe I'll try it."

Sam picked up one of the strange yet pretty little items. 

"Mmm."

"What is it?"

"You know, I'm not sure. But its good. Try one."

"Not until you identify it."

"Oh, come on."

"I'm picky."

"Yeah. Yeah, you are….So, how was mom?"

"She was…good." Better than he was.

"Did she send cookies?"

"So no actual concern about my mother…"

"I'm just asking."

"My mother is doing quite well, considering. And apparently she find baking therapeutic, because we were sent home with 2 tins of cookies and a banana bread."

"Where are they?" Sam asked excitedly.

"You're standing there, munching endlessly on those things, in the middle of a fundraiser, and you want to know where the cookies from my mom are?"

"Josh, anything your mother has baked is far superior—"

"They're upstairs, in Donna's bag."

"Oh…"

"If you're a good boy, maybe you can have one later."

Sam laughed. "So…how did that go?"

"How did what go?"

"Your mom…Donna…"

What was he getting at? "Donna talks to my mom on the phone all the time. More than I talk to her."

"But she was meeting her for the first time."

"Yeah."

"And?"

"They got on famously, as expected. They had plenty of time to talk just the two of them." Josh gulped down the rest of his champagne.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I had a rough afternoon. I needed some time to be by myself, I realized. So I went outside for a while, and Donna stayed inside and talked to my mother."

"That's good at least."

"Yeah. I was really glad for the company. If it had been just me, I don't think I would have been able to be by myself and just think…you know?"

Sam nodded.

Josh grinned. "My mom got her to change her mind about coming to this thing."

"How?"

"She lent her a dress."

"Really?"

"My mom used to go to all sorts of fancy events…I didn't realize she kept all her dresses."

"Is it pretty?"

"I've only seen it in the bag." Though in all of his mental pictures of Donna in the dress it was exceptionally pretty. This was bad.

"Where is she?"

"She should be down in a few minutes." He hoped.

"Who is that over there?" Sam pivoted Josh to face the room.

"Where?"

"Talking to CJ."

"That's Senator Wallem."

"Do you think she's hitting on him?"

"Sam?"

"Do you?"

"I think she's talking to him."

"Really close."

"Its loud in here. Not everyone is talking as loud as we are."

"Uh huh."

"Sam."

Sam turned back to face Josh, laughing, "Just saying. They're awfully close. Woah."

Josh spun around quickly. Woah, indeed. If he had any coherent thoughts in his head, he would have been mad at same for that remark, but it seemed all he could notice right now was Donna. She had just walked into the room. The yellow dress clung to curves he didn't realize she had, and dipped lower than he had ever seen. It was fitted through her waist, then the skirt puffed out, hitting mid calf. She saw Josh and Sam, waved, and headed their way.

"Close you mouth."

"Wha—oh . Was I really gaping?"

"Yes, my friend you were. That's some dress."

Josh nodded. That was certainly quite a dress.

"That dress was your mother's?"

Donna arrived beside them. "Hi guys."

"Hey, Donna, we were just admiring your dress."

"Did Josh tell you where it came from?"

"He did. I can't believe his mother had that in her closet."

"Its older than I am."

"Well, it fits you like a glove."

Josh glared at Sam, who smirked.

"Well, uh, I'm going to find more to drink. I'll see you two later." At least he got the hint.

Josh remained silent, looking at Donna. There was a very subtle pattern around the top of it, almost lacy. But he couldn't get caught looking there, at that pattern. That would be bad. So he turned his gaze to his feet.

"Josh Lyman, at a loss for words?"

Josh looked up and smiled at her.

"You are taller than me in those shoes."

"Only a little."

"Is that dress really older than you are?"

"Your mom couldn't quite remember, but she thinks its close to being older than you are."

"Really?"

Donna nodded. "It was the first one I tried on. We were going for old but stylish, not out of date."

"Its…its…great. You look…great…incredible." Still no luck with the coherent thought.

Donna smiled. "Thank you." 

Finally she broke his gaze, and turned out toward the rest of the room. "So who have you talked to so far?"

"Sam."

"Just Sam?"

"Just Sam."

"You need to mingle."

"You need to keep reminding me who people are."

"Fair enough. Wow, look at CJ and Senator Wallem."

"That's what Sam said. You think so too?"

"Totally."

"Hmm…" The fact that Josh could no longer identify major flirting concerned him.

"Smile, both of you!" Margaret yelled, and snapped a picture before they had a chance to pose.

"Margaret, take one more, a nice one, and can I get a copy, please?"

The red head nodded, and Donna stepped closer to Josh.

"Your mom had requests in terms of pictures. One of you. One of me in this dress. I think she preferably wanted the two together."

Josh grinned, and put his arms around Donna's waist, pulling her flush to him. She let her cheek rest against his.

"Say cheese! One more! Thanks! I'll make you a copy, Donna!" Margaret called as she scurried away.

"I have a copy of the list of attendees in my purse. We should take a look and see who you need to talk to," she pulled away from him and began digging through her purse. "Josh? Josh? Earth to Josh."

Josh blinked out of his reverie of the smell of her hair and the warmth of her pressed to him. "Yeah?"

"Let's see who you need to talk to."

"Can I steal him for a minute?" Leo asked, walking over.

"Sure. I'm just figuring out who its most important that he talk to."

"Excellent."

"Josh, do you want some wine?"

He nodded. "Red, please."

Donna made a face. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Josh watched her walk away.

"What did I tell you about pushing her about coming to this?"

"I…"

"Though I have to say, she looks like she's enjoying herself."

"I was not the one who persuaded her. I couldn't figure out the problem. Mom did, and she solved it."

"Leave it to Rita. What was the problem?"

"She didn't have a dress. Mom lent her that one. I can't believe I didn't realize it."

"Women see these things."

"I was all huffy she didn't want to go, and it was really because she couldn't afford to."

"Josh, I said we'd talk about salary again in a few weeks."

"I know. I'm not pushing. It was just a realization. I wish I had caught on before we got into a fight about her coming. It's a sensitive topic for her." 

"Are you worried about her leaving again?"

"A little…not really anymore, I think she's back for good. No, I'm not worried."

"Anymore?" A lifetime in politics had caused Leo to develop a highly attuned sense of the important word in a sentence.

"I, uh…well… its…"

"You paying her out of pocket?"

Josh looked up at the older man, and nodded sheepishly.

"How much?"

"I gave her $100. I told her that the campaign couldn't afford to put her on salary yet, which is true, but that you said she'd be able to get a small stipend, for the little things that come up, so she didn't get overwhelmed."

"I see."

"I just…I…I didn't know what else to do."

"Sometimes you can be a very nice guy. If you try."

Josh smiled.

"I assume this doesn't hurt you in the least?"

"Doesn't even make a dent. I was, uh, toying with how much to make it."

"$100 is a good number."

"I even had Mrs. Landingham write her name on the envelope, because I knew she wouldn't take it if she really knew where it was coming from."

Leo nodded. "If you really believe in her, I think you're doing a good thing. Just keep this quiet until we can get her on salary."

"Will do."

Donna came back over to them bearing a red wine for Josh and a white wine for herself.

"You look lovely tonight, kid," Leo smiled as he walked away.

See, Leo knew how to phrase it. Sam hadn't.

"So," Donna began, dragging Josh to his feet. "I found Gregory White. He—"

"I'm coming, I'm coming…I don't need the life histories."

Donna scoffed, and grabbed him by the arm, leading him across the room. 

This he could get used to. 


	9. Chapter 9

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (9)  
Author: Aerial312 Rating: PG Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Archiving: Sure. Just let me know where its going.

"You left me alone out there with Senator Johnston."

"You were having a conversation that I didn't need to hear."

"As opposed to all the other conversations I've had tonight with various other members of Congress that you did need to hear?"

"My feet hurt."

"Conveniently that only occurs when I'm talking to old, wrinkly, female Senators."

"No—"

"As opposed to young freshmen Congress—"

"My feet hurt!"

"New shoes disappointing?" Josh sat in the chair beside Donna.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"But they hurt?"

"Yeah, but they got compliments."

"Oh, that's right." Josh scowled. The businessman who had looked her up and down. Repeatedly.

"CJ liked them too! He was just being nice, Josh."

"He was leering at you the whole time I was talking to him."

"He was not."

"Yes, he was." And Josh had wanted to strangle him for it.

Donna giggled. "That really pissed you off." 

"He was sleazy."

"He was just friendly."

"He—"

"He was schmoozing."

"With your breasts!"

"Josh! A littler quieter please."

"His eyes were fixed on your chest."

"No, they weren't." Josh looked at her pointedly. "Okay, maybe they were."

She smiled. "You were jealous." Yes, yes he was. And he wasn't exactly sure why. It really set him off. It was like she was his little sister. Yeah, that's what it must have been. No, not really. He did want to protect her, but he didn't feel all the brotherly about it. Oh dear.

"No…"

"You ended that conversation really fast."

"He was annoying."

Donna smirked. "Would he have been as annoying if—"

"Yes."

"How do you know what I was going to ask?"

"I just do."

"Then what was it?"

"You were going to ask if he would have seemed as annoying if he wasn't hitting on you? And yes he would have been. He's just the type of pompous jerk I hate at these things."

"This was fun though. The fundraiser."

"And thankfully, we can leave soon."

"Spoil sport."

"I've been a good sp—"

"Yes, you've been on your best behavior." Josh nodded. "Because Leo told you you'd better be."

"Well, yes. Because it's a fundraiser. We always have to be on our best behavior at fundraisers."

"But you aren't always, are you?"

Josh shrugged. 

"Otherwise, Leo wouldn't have pulled you into his office to tell you specifically to behave."

"It wasn't specifically for that, it just came up—and how do you know that?"

"Margaret listens at the door sometimes."

Oh jeez. Good to know. "She should be careful about that. She'll get in trouble if she's caught."

"You're not going to tell on her, are you?"

"Tell on her? What, am I five?"

"Sometimes you act like—Ow!"

Josh had pinched Donna lightly on the arm. "That didn't hurt."

"It did. So, you ready to get out of here?"

"I thought I was a spoil sport?"

"My feet hurt."

"So that makes you the spoil sport."

"Oh, come on. Let's watch a movie." Donna stood up, grimacing. She lost her balance as she tried to slide into her painful new shoe. Josh reached out and caught her, and for a moment she was pressed against him. And he couldn't breathe.

"Thank you," Donna smiled, pulling away.

Josh held onto her arm as she stepped into the other shoe. "Can I pick the movie?"

"We'll see."

"Not Titanic!" Josh flopped down on the bed.

Donna was sitting on top of the covers in his Mets T-shirt and boxers, flipping through the pay-per-view movies.

"Pleeease! I haven't seen it."

"You're not missing much."

"You've seen it?"

"Back in January, when things were still really slow in New Hampshire, CJ and Sam dragged me with them."

"Really?"

"Yes. It was terrible."

"Hmmmph…" she pouted.

"Donna, its three hours long." He wasn't going to be able to resist that pout for long."

"I wouldn't mind if you fell asleep—"

"That's not the point."

"And it wouldn't kill you to get some extra sleep."

"Extra sleep? It's already almost midnight."

"Please…" Full pout. His resolve was gone.

"You're sure you wouldn't rather watch Tomorrow Never Dies?"

"I don't really like Bond."

"Or The Wedding Singer?"

"Titanic."

She looked him straight in the eye, with her lower lip puffed out.

He laughed. "Okay."

"Thank you!" she grinned, and hugged him. 

Donna quickly selected the movie from the list, and settled under the covers.

"If its okay…?" Josh began to pull some files out of his backpack.

"I guess…"

"You're not going to make me watch the whole thing again, are you?"

"If you're not going to watch, you should sleep."

"It's still early. I could get some work done."

"I want to turn out the lights to really enjoy the movie."

Josh sighed, and put the folders back. "I'll watch for a little while."

"Good. Climb in. Oh! But first, turn off that light."

Josh did as he was told, then scooted in next to her. He puffed his pillows up, and leaned back.

"This part is stupid."

"Joshua! Be quiet!"

"I'm just saying."

"Josh!"

"Fine."

Josh's right arm was brushing against Donna's left, and thankfully this drew his attention away from the movie. Her skin was so pale and soft. No. He couldn't be thinking about her like this. He couldn't. Josh scooted further down, and closed his eyes. Donna was watching the movie with her full attention. He decided to press his luck, and lay his cheek against her arm. No reaction. He'd keep his head there for a few minutes, and then roll over and sleep. He was out in less than a minute. 


	10. Chapter 10

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (10)  
Author: Aerial312 Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Archiving: Sure. Just let me know where its going.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Donna groggily woke up. She had gotten very little sleep after watching Titanic in its entirety, and right now her pillow was very inviting. The knocking continued. Donna did not want to get up. She was covered up tightly, and all warm and cozy.

The knock got more insistent. Donna really didn't want to move. She snuggled closer into her pillow, and it moved. Donna's eyes opened with a start. Uh oh. Josh was her pillow. She wasn't sure how that happened. She had gone to sleep curled on her side, facing the center, but definitely separate. Now there was no gap between them. She was curled against him, with his arm around her. 

The knock got louder. This was not good. Part of her was considering this really, really good, but the other part of her, the more logical part knew this was bad. Bosses and assistants weren't supposed to wake up in each other's arms. Bosses and assistants weren't supposed to be sleeping in the same bed to begin with, but she wasn't going there. This felt so good, but there was someone at the door. And they kept knocking.

Very slowly and gently, she wriggled out of him embrace. She knelt up and looked at him. He'd barely moved. For someone who had such trouble falling asleep, he sure slept soundly. Donna walked over to the door, to determine their course of action. She didn't think anyone actually knew she was staying with Josh. Donna put her eye to the peephole. Oh shit. This was probably the worst person it could be. Mandy was at the door.

Knock, knock, knock. 

Donna scurried back over to the bed, and shook Josh. "Wake up!" she whispered. "Wake up, shhh!"

Josh blinked awake. "Why are you shushing me?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Josh sat up. "Who is it?"

"You're not going to be happy."

"Who?"

"Mandy."

"What!"

"Shhhh!"

"What the hell is she doing here?"

"I don't know. I just looked out the peephole and there she was."

"Shit."

"I know."

"I didn't know she was coming."

"She's here."

"We can't open the door." Josh shifted uncomfortably.

"I know."

Knock, knock, knock.

"How long has she been knocking?"

It seemed like forever. "A minute or two. Maybe she'll go away."

"She's very stubborn."

"Its almost 7:00. You could have feasibly left by now."

"I guess…"

"So we wait."

"We wait."

Donna sat awkwardly on the bed beside him. She wondered if he realized the position that they had slept in.

"Did you watch all of Titanic?"

"Yeah. Finished at like 3am."

"I watched the first hour or s—"

"You were asleep in the first five min—"

"I wasn"  
"You were."

"I guess I was more tired than I thought."

"I should put on Titanic every night," Donna grinned.

"The perfect sleep aid."

She got up and crossed to the door. "Looks like she's gone."

"She's probably watching."

"We should get ready and go downstairs."

"Yeah, before she figures out I'm not already down there."

"You want to go first?" Donna gestured the bathroom.

"Uh…nah…you go. I'm still waking up." Josh sat back against the headboard, still under the covers.

"I had better not come out and find you back asleep."

"I'm getting out of bed in a minute. I swear."

"Uh huh," Donna smiled, as she dug work clothes out of her suitcase. "I'll be quick."

"Did Mandy find you?" Sam asked, the second Josh walked into the conference room-come war room. 

Josh decided to play ignorant. "Mandy's here?"

"Don't sound so excited."

"That must have been the knocking on the door this morning."

"Yeah, she said she knocked for almost five minutes to no answer. So she came downstairs looking for you."

"I ignored the knocking."

Sam chuckled. "She was pissed."

"I didn't know it was her. I just decided that anyone I really wanted to talk to would know to call me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Josh answered cautiously.

"Why do you bother with her?"

Josh shrugged. 

"Is it good sex?"

"Sam!"

"Well?"

"It can be…"

"But…"

"But, its not usually worth the hassle."

"Oh. I would have thought that good sex was the only reason you put up with that woman."

"She's not terrible…to sleep with."

"You gonna again?"

"I don't know…probably…its this cycle."

"But you want to break the cycle?"

"Its not going anywhere."

"That's obvious."

"Is it?"

"Most definitely."

"Shit."

"Are you in an on segment or and off segment?"

"I don't know."

"How can you not know?"

"I think we've been on—as you put it—an off segment for several months."

"But you still sleep with her?"

"Sometimes."

"You two seemed pretty friendly three weeks ago in Ohio."

"She was there for the whole week."

"And…"

"What and?"

"I have a hard time believing that if Mandy is here for a whole week this time you'll be as chummy."

"Probably not," Josh sighed. "I was lonely in Ohio."

"Ah…"

"Sam, my father had just died."

"And?"

"Why is there always an and? My father had died, and Mandy was there. Physically at least."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we never even talked about it. She hadn't fucking seen me since the funeral, and didn't bring it up. We just didn't talk much at all."

"I see."

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I don't want to answer anymore questions about my whatever-it-is with Mandy."

"Not about that."

"What then?"

"Where did Donna stay last night? She'd been sleeping on the bus, she said. But last night, the bus had to park quite far away. Where did she stay?"

"Sam, the way you ask the question, you its clear already know the answer."

"So she did—"

"Quiet."

"—stay with you," Sam finished at a lower volume.

"Yeah."

"How does that work?"

"Huh?"

"How does that work, Donna staying in your room?"

Josh shrugged.

"Bed and floor, or share the bed?"

"We share the bed."

Sam cocked an eyebrow.

"What? You've never shared a bed with someone you weren't sleeping with?"

"I have. Not in long time—"

"Its like that."

"—and never with someone who looked like Donna."

Josh glared at Sam. 

"I'm just saying."

"Nothing has happened."

"Has happened…that seems to imply more than once, because if you just wanted to indicate last night, you would have said nothing happened, not—"

"Sam!"

"Well?"

"Donna usually stays with me. I don't like her sleeping on the bus. But nothing happens. Let's keep this quiet, okay?"

Sam nodded, and Josh continued over to a computer to check his email. Sam accepted his explanation, now he just needed to accept it himself. 


	11. Chapter 11

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (11?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who responded to my question about the Convention site. Consensus: it was never said, so I'm going to make it up.

"Joshua Lyman!"

Josh spun around. There was no mistaking that voice. "Mandy."

"Where the hell were you this morning?"

"Sleeping in."

"And you didn't hear my knocking at your door for five minutes?"

"You were knocking on my door?" Going for complete ignorance of the matter.

"For five minutes."

"I was out cold." Not technically a lie. He had been sleeping through the knocking. It work Donna up.

"You were sleeping? Don't you claim to not need sleep to function?"

"Even superheros need to recharge sometimes, Mandy."

"Oh yeah?" she asked seductively, stepping toward him.

He smirked, "Rarely."

"That's what I recall." She closed the distance, wrapping her arms around his waist to grab his ass.

Josh groaned, but stepped away. As much as he'd rather not, there were still times he found Mandy extremely sexy. "So, what are you doing with us again?"

"You say that like I'm not good at what I do."

"I wasn't saying that."

"Leo appreciates my work. He brought me back on to deal with image heading into the Convention."

"I see."

"Only two weeks to go."

"I'm aware. Leo thinks we need help?"

"Leo wants the best."

"How modest of you."

"Look who's talking. Superhero." She ran her finger down his chest.

Josh grinned. Okay, that was hot.

"Anyways," she continued, "I need to go over a bunch of policy stuff with you today. When's good?"

"I have no idea."

"Still a mess, are we Josh?"

"What I mean is, I'll have to check with Donna. My schedule is totally in her hands. She just tells me where I need to be when."

"She came back?"

Josh nodded.

"When?"

"Beginning of the week."

"Boyfriend break up with her again?" Mandy snickered.

"Don't start."

"How long do you think she'll stay this time?"

"Mandy—"

"How long?"

"She's back for good. She—"

"So she says."

"She is. I'm trying to get Leo to put her on salary."

"Weren't you trying to get Leo to put her on salary before? I think she needs to show some staying power before she gets a salary."

"Ever think they're directly related?"

"Huh?"

"Without a salary, its hard for her to afford to stay."

"If it was important, she'd find a way."

"Not everyone has a trust fund, Mandy."

"You do too."

"Yes, but I understand how tight Donna's financial situation is. She's going to need a salary to get by."

"Plenty of campaign volunteers get by without salaries."

"Students. Students get by without salaries. Interns who still rely on Mommy and Daddy."

"Who probably have more education and experience than she does."

"And half the innate ability."

"She has no degree. She didn't even come close to graduat—"

"But that has nothing to do with her ability. She picks up stuff faster than anyone I know."

Mandy glared at him. "You're going to need a real secretary when we take the White House."

"Aren't you being a little premature? Anyways, I disagree."

"Her secretarial skills—"

"Don't matter. She's invaluable to me for her organizational skills alone—"

"Doesn't hurt that she's young and blonde."

Josh wasn't going to even grace that comment with a response. "You can't learn those kinds of skills. She can learn how to be a secretary, and she's already doing great."

"Anyways," Mandy cut into Josh's praise, "I need some time with you today."

"Fine. DONNA!"

She appeared from around a corner. "You bellowed? Hi Mandy."

Mandy nodded towards her.

"Mandy needs some time with me today."

"How long?"

"How long?"

" I heard her ask. An hour, hour and a half."

"That's going to be tight," Donna sighed, opening the planner. "We leave for the rally in 10, before the rally starts you and Leo need to track down the mayor and make sure his speech, uh, works." Josh chuckled that she had indeed written down exactly what he said that they needed to do to the Mayor's speech, and was revising it on the fly as she read it out loud. "Then at 2pm we get in the bus and drive to Philly."

"I can meet with him on the bus."

"Leo is conducting a senior staff meeting on the bus to discuss the Convention. My guess is that you have that too."

"Oh…right."

Josh smirked, and Mandy glared at him.

"Then we meet with the local office at 4:30, you have a conference call with Congressmen Dolan and Calhoun at 5:30, Dinner at 6—"

"I can meet dur—"

"—with Toby and Sam to discuss tonight's town hall—"

Mandy growled.

"—then the town hall meeting at 7:30. Which is scheduled until 9, a d followed by a cocktail party—"

"We can skip," Mandy began

"—that you have to go to because you have a meeting with Pete Slevin, the State Democratic Party Chair during it."

"And then what?" Mandy sighed.

"That's all."

"So, superhero. It looks like you and I are going to have to have this meeting in your hotel room tonight."

"Not mine, no. It we have a…uh…late night…policy…meeting, its going to be in your room."

"Why?"

"Because then I'll give my room to Donna so she doesn't have to sleep on the bus!" Josh realized he was committing him self to spending the night with Mandy.

"Fine then," she smiled as she walked off. "See you tonight, Josh."

"See you tonight, Josh," Donna mimicked.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Superhero?"

"I…uh…may have implied…that…uh…"

"Your skills are akin to a superhero?" Donna grinned.

"No!"

"No?"

"Well…uh…more that my…uh…stamina…is akin to a superhero."

"Oh really?" That was also quite hot.

"We were talking about sleep."

"Sure you were."

"And how I don't very often, but managed to sleep through her knocking on my door this morning."

"Ah. She doesn't believe you?"

"I don't think so."

"So you're staying with her tonight?"

Josh sighed, "Yeah…"

"Good. Maybe getting laid will do you some good." Say what?

"What?"

"I'm just saying—"

"Sex with Mandy is never relaxing…it's a full sparring event."

"You didn't seem to be fighting against the possibility so much."

"No…"

"I could have probably gotten rid of one of your meetings during the day, but it seemed like you—"

"I guess."

"You need some…"

"Some what...?"

"Some."

"I see. You don't think I've…uh…gotten…some recently?"

"I…if you did, it didn't work."

"Work?"

"You're still full of stress."

"Right, because it was with Mandy."

"You make it sound like you don't want any."

"I do." Though, increasingly, Josh did not think it was with Mandy.

"Was it a good idea to tell her that you were going to give me your room?"

"Why wasn't it?"

"Well, you're kind of stuck now."

"I'm not stuck."

"If you and Mandy have a terrible fight, she'll still stick her claws in because she knows you gave your room to me."

"If we have that bad a fight, she won't care, she'll just be glad to get rid of me."

"But—"

"Donna, you've seen our fights before…we tear into each other. Especially if this…uh…session is starting with policy discussion."

"So you're not even giving it a chance."

"I am. I'll give it a chance."

"Good."

"Good?"

"You need some extracurricular activity."

"I do?"

"You're high strung."

"I tell you—"

"Sex is great stress reliever."

Indeed. But he was picturing it being especially calming with her, not with Mandy. Not good.

"We have to go to the bus."

"Yeah."

"Come on."

"I mean it when I say I'm coming back if things don't work out."

"Okay."

"Okay then."

"Are you anticipating things not working out?"

"I don't know."

"Don't be a pessimist."

"Why not?"

"You need to get laid." So hot.

"Who says that things necessarily have to not work out before sex?"

"Touche."


	12. Chapter 12

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (11?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Part of this chapter was motivated by watching the Red Sox whop the Mets tonight :)

"Your team's losing," CJ greeted Josh as he trudged into the conference room. He was carrying his suit coat and tie.

"They're not losing, they're tied."

"They shouldn't be tied, the start they got."

"I didn't see the beginning. I turned on the game and they were tied."

"What kept you—oh."

"What?"

"Mandy's in town."

"So?"

"So that's why you didn't watch the baseball game from the top."

Sam wandered into the room. "You do know they already lost, right? This is the repeat of the game."

"Oh," Josh sighed. 

"Meeting over?" Sam snarked.

"Indeed."

"Are things a mess with Mandy again?" CJ asked. "Anything I need to know about?" 

"Nothing you need to know about. It's no more a mess than usual. She's just a pain in the ass."

"So you're not spending the night with her?"

"Josh Lyman is passing up sex?" CJ laughed.

"I'm not staying the night." Nice and vague.

"Oh," Sam snickered, "The sex has already happened." No getting anything past his best friend.

CJ shook her head, and looked back towards the document she was reading.

Sam continued, "What went wrong?"

"Mandy was just Mandy."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means that she tries to get her way on something she wants as media consultant while we're in the middle of—you know…"

"Like, actually in the middle of it?"

"Yes."

"Like naked and attached?" And this was the speechwriter talking.

"Yes, Sam."

Sam and CJ both cracked up. Josh glared at them.

CJ finally asked, "Is this the status quo for you two?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. Usually she waits until right when we finish. Hit me when I'm most vulnerable."

"Does it work?" Sam grinned.

"More than I'd like it to."

"So did you just stop in the middle and leave?" CJ questioned.

"That would be sill—" Sam began.

"No, we were done."

"Because that would have been hilar—"

"CJ!"

"I'm just saying."

"When she started that bullshit…I stopped caring…"

"Define stopped caring." Sam snickered.

"I decided to end it as quick as possible."

"In a way that included an orgasm for you."

"Yeah. So?"

"No, that seemed like the right thing," Sam laughed. "I probably would have done the same thing."

"Men."

"What? It wasn't like he was the one discussing policy in flagrante delicto."

"I suppose."

"Why shouldn't he get something out of it?"

Josh was eager to change the subject. "So what are the two of you doing in the conference room at 2am?"

"I'm reading up on these labor issues so that I don't look like a complete idiot in front of the press again."

"Again?"

"There are certain issues that I'm not good on. This is one of them. So I'm studying."

"Good. You?"

"Working on the speech for the rally tomorrow."

"Do you understand the labor issues?"

"Of course…I read those articles earlier."

Josh shook his head. "Well, I'm off to bed."

"Your own room?" Sam asked.

"Yes."

"Is…?"

"Yes."

"Is what?" CJ questioned.

"Back to my room for the whole 3-4 hours of sleep left."

"Is what?"

"Does Mandy—"

"No."

"Does Mandy what?"

"She doesn't?"

"She probably doesn't realize it."

"But she knows?"

"She was told. But that was when I was staying the whole night in her room."

"For the love of god tell me what the two of you are talking about!"

Sam looked to Josh. Josh looked at the floor. He couldn't tell CJ. She would be pissed. Then again, if he didn't, Sam would tell CJ as soon as he left, and CJ would be pissed in the morning. He glanced up at her. She looked like she had already figured it out.

"Well—" Sam began.

"Joshua, look at me," CJ demanded. He did. "Did you let Donna have your room tonight?"

"Yes."

"And now you want to go up there?"

"Yeah."

"Is that a good idea?"

"The press is staying in a different hotel."

CJ sighed.

"They're not always though," Sam protested.

"You, shut up!"

"Explain always."

"CJ."

"I'm staying calm, and I'm asking you to explain what Sam means by always."

"I can't let her sleep on the bus."

"So she's staying with you?" Surprisingly, CJ wasn't raising her voice. As long as the answers were forthcoming.

"Yes. She has been. Tonight I was going to give her my room, though she predicted that I wouldn't last the whole night with Mandy, the way we were bickering this afternoon."

"How long has she been staying with you?"

"Since the third day she was back. I caught her sleeping on the bus…it was cold, and I said absolutely not."

"Josh…"

"CJ, she doesn't get paid. She can't afford—"

"You still have to be careful."

"I know that."

They were silent for a minute.

"I don't like this."

"I didn't ask you if you liked it. I'm telling you how it is. Until she starts getting paid—"

"Be careful."

"I will…" Josh wasn't sure why CJ gave up her argument, and his look said as much.

"Joshua, you're clearly not going to listen even if I tell you to not to so…just be careful."

"I…we will." Josh turned to leave.

"Josh!" CJ called. "One more thing…you're not going to like this…but I have to ask. You're not sleeping with her, are you?"

"Well, technically—"

"Sam, I wasn't talking to you. Josh, you know exactly what I mean. Answer the question."

"No. No, we're not." Not a lie. CJ didn't need to know how incredibly attracted to Donna he was lately, or how she'd been in his arms until she went to answer the door this morning.

"Good. I had to ask. You know that."

Josh nodded, and left the room.

He stood in the hallway and fished the keycard out of his pocket. Quickly he stuck it into the slot and pulled it out. Red light. He tried again. Red light. Again. Red light. Again. Red light. Josh tried again, pulling hard on the handle. Red light. He held up the card, to see if it had any special instructions. The door opened, and Donna stood on the other side.

"Have a little trouble?"

"I hate these things."

"I know."

"They don't work."

"They do work. You're impatient," she yawned.

The only light on in the room was on her side of the bed, and she was wearing her usual pajamas—his boxers and T-shirt. 

"Sorry I woke you."

"I wasn't asleep yet. I'd just turned off the light. I was watching TV. They lost." She gestured the shirt she had on.

"I heard."

Josh yawned, and unbuttoned his dress shirt. Donna climbed back into bed. He pulled his pants off and crawled onto the other side. No matter where they were, they always slept on the same side in relation to each other.

"Didn't go well with Mandy?"

"No."

"You stayed longer than I figured you would."

"I was down the conference room for a half hour or so before I came up here."

"Ah."

"Mandy doesn't seem to understand when she shouldn't be talking policy."

"In the middle of…?"

"Yeah."

Donna laughed. "You don't find that hot?"

He did when she asked about it. "Not especially. Does it strike you that I'd like to talk politics in the middle of sex?"

Donna cocked her head at him and grinned. "Sort of."

"Donna!"

"You're very into what you do."

"I know how to relax."

"Did you respond to—"

"Rephrase that."

"—okay, answer her policy questions?"

"No."

"Just pulled out and left."

"Uh…"

"Hurried up, finished and left?"

Josh nodded.

"Well, I guess you didn't completely waste the meeting?"

"CJ thought I was a pig."

Donna shrugged. "It's not like it was the first time you slept with her."

"No."

"Does she realize that you were coming back to your room which you'd given to me?"

"She didn't say so. But my guess is she'll realize by morning."

"Great…"

"Don't worry."

"But we don't want a lot of people—"

"CJ knows now."

"How?"

"She figured it out. Sam wasn't helping."

"Was she pissed?" Donna looked worried.

"She wasn't pleased…but she didn't yell."

"That's good at least."

"Yeah." They looked at each other for a moment.

"Ready for me to turn the light off?"

"Go ahead."

She remained turned on her side. They were separated by at least a body width. Josh wondered how long that would last, as he drifted off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (13?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: The last chapter was mislabeled in the actual file as part 11. It was part 12.

Donna glanced at the clock on her bed table. 5:02. She didn't have to be up for another 58 minutes, but there was construction of some sort outside the window. It sounded like drilling. It was annoying. However, she did not want to get up, having just gone to bed some 2 hours earlier. And it didn't hurt that she was wrapped in Josh's arms again. She'd fallen asleep, on her side, facing away from him. At some point they'd both drifted towards the center, and she was now spooned in Josh's arms. And regardless of whether it was a good idea or not, she intended to stay there for the next 58 minutes, drilling or no. She curled closer and closed her eyes.

Josh pulled Donna tighter to him. The way she was breathing, he had a feeling she was awake too. He wasn't sure exactly how to play off that they'd ended up in each other's arms again, and truth be told, he didn't really want to let go yet. They still had 56 minutes. So he decided to pretend he was still asleep. God, that drilling was annoying though. Josh rested his chin on the back of Donna's head, and stared at the clock. 5:05.

Her hair smelt nice, like peppermint. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe steadily to keep up the façade of sleeping. The drilling stopped, and Josh briefly entertained actually going back to sleep, but it was soon replaced by hammering. 5:10. Josh sighed, and looked around the room. They'd both moved in towards each other. Both. Josh sighed again and tried to lay still and just enjoy the moment. The hammering continued.

Being still was not one of Josh's strong points, Donna decided. He was obviously awake. She didn't want to read too far into the fact that he was trying to pretend that he was still asleep too. One of his hands lay on her stomach, and the other was toying with her hair. Man, he couldn't stay still. Eventually, one of them was going to have to break, while the other stayed "asleep".

5:30. Josh suspected he wasn't doing a good job faking the sleeping. He was twirling the ends of her hair in his fingers, and had started playing with the fabric of her T-shirt. She nestled closer, now completely pressed against him. And suddenly, that was all he could think about, and he realized that he was going to have to move very soon or this was going to get even more embarrassing.

Very slowly, he let go of her, and rolled away. He lay on his side, facing away. This was not good. Why was she all of a sudden having this affect on him? This really couldn't continue. It was going to get distracting. But she felt so good…

Donna got up and crossed to the window. "Next stop, hopefully we're not staying in a hotel that's being renovated."

Josh rolled back over to face the spot Donna had just vacated. "You don't like waking up to power tools?"

"Not my favorite alarm clock."

"We only got like 3 hours."

"Less. And technically we still have another 25 minutes, but slim chance of sleep."

Josh nodded. "Might as well start working." Working was safe. Lounging in bed was not.

"We can pour over some of the unemployment data that the labor reps want to see a position on."

Josh scowled. "Ah, yes. When did that finally arrive?"

"Ken, the lackey, gave it to me at the cocktail party."

"Where was I?"

"You'd left for your meeting with Mandy."

"Ah." Mandy had really been trying to get him out of there. "How big is this packet? Half inch?" Josh asked hopefully. Donna snorted. "Inch?"

"Try a copy paper box."

"Copy paper box?"

"Full."

"God."

"We're going to have a fun bus ride this afternoon."

"Ugh."

"I already started. While you were, uh, busy. I started to sort them into stuff you definitely have to read, stuff that might be good to read, and the stuff that I can read and just give you the salient points."

"I hope that pile's the biggest."

"You're in luck."

"Have you started to read any of it yet?"

"No, just sorting took an hour."

Josh shook his head. "Go get ready. When you're done, I'll take my shower and you can finish sorting before we go to the breakfast."

"Oh, I can finish sorting them before the breakfast, huh?"

"Just go."

"Going."

"Have you stopped reading?"

"I'm reading."

"My note cards."

"I need to read the note cards too, yeah?"

"Yeah, but you need to read those articles more."

"They're so dry."

"You expected labor statistics to be interesting?"

"I expected them to be more interesting than this."

"They're not that bad. I've read twice as many as you have now."

"Well, I keep getting called away to meet with Leo, and Sam, and Toby, and CJ."

"You told them to keep pulling you from this."

"I did not."

"I heard you tell CJ. With instructions to pass the word."

"Well, those meetings are important too! We've been hopping rally to rally across the state of Pennsylvania today. We need to be prepared."

"We are prepared. Each and every one of these rallies so far has been the standard stump."

"Tonight in Pittsburgh is different."

"Modified stump with Q & A."

"I thought it was a town hall."

"It essentially is."

"When did it get changed?"

"It was in the morning memo from Leo."

"Today?"

"Yes, today. You read it."

"I never read that."

"Just like I thought, you don't actually read the morning memo."

"Donna, I've got a pile of briefing reports to read. I skim the memo."

"Well, if you'd read it you'd know that tonight we are starting with a modified stump."

"But why?"

"Because its starting with the mayor speaking now, and Governor Bartlet is taking the stage half an hour later—"

"Why?" He was kind of cute when he was frustrated.

"You guys didn't talk about this in one of your many meetings today?"

"Why, Donna?"

"All this time escaping the labor statistics to work on the day's rallies and—"

"Donna!" Uh oh.

"Because of the baseball game."

"What baseball game?"

"Governor Bartlet has been invited to throw out the first pitch at the Pittsburgh Pirates game."

"When did this happen?"

"Obviously before the morning memo."

"But when?"

"I don't know. First I heard was when I read the morning memo."

"What do we have to do for the game?"

Donna shrugged.

"Go find out."

"Are you going to—"

"Keep reading? Yes. Go."

Donna wandered down the aisle of the bus. "Hey, Sam?"

"What's up?" Sam turned the screen of his laptop away from the aisle.

Donna grinned. "Whatcha working on?"

"Uh…" Sam grinned. "Solitaire. I'm bored. Nothing but the stump today."

"Except—"

"Except for the modified stump at the last thing tonight."

"What do you know about the baseball game?"

"He's just throwing out a pitch."

"What do we need to know about it?"

"Not much. Only CJ and Mrs. Bartlet and Leo are going with him. The rest of us are going ahead to the auditorium to make sure everything is all set."

"Oh."

"Josh didn't tell you that?"

"Josh had no idea about the baseball game."

"He was in the meeting about it. In body at least."

"Yeah, he's got a short attention span today."

"What are you guys working on?"

"Labor statistics. He keeps taking any excuse to do something else."

"Except Mandy."

"Except Mandy."

"Were you surprised that he ended up coming back to his room last night."

"No. He stayed longer than I thought he would."

"Yeah?"

"You disagree?"

"No…can I ask you something?"

Something about the tone of Sam's voice made Donna nervous. "Sure." Try to not show it.

"Are you comfortable sharing a room with Josh?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I…"

"I know it's a little weird, but haven't you ever just shared a room with someone?"

"I have."

"That's what it is."

"There's nothing…?"

"Sam?" Technically they weren't doing anything.

"I'm sorry. Forget I asked."

"Really, Sam. Nothing is going on."

"Sorry."

Donna turned and walked back to her seat. This was starting to draw some attention and that couldn't be good.


	14. Chapter 14

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (14?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Okay, so I've decided to make the 1998 Democratic National Convention in Boston, because I know Boston.

"How have you already managed to make a mess of your desk?" Donna stood beside him with her hands on her hips, pouting in an adorable way. Really adorable. "It was neat when we left, and we've been back all of 10 minutes."

"I came in—"

"—and dumped out the contents of your backpack."

"If you already knew the answer why did you ask the question?"

"And who's going to sort that mess?"

He looked up at her and smiled.

"Right. Me."

"But you do it so well."

"Couldn't you have taken it out neatly?"

"My neatest still wouldn't be neat enough for you. You'd redo it anyways," he grinned, bringing out the dimples. He had learned that it was nearly impossible for her to resist the dimples.

"I suppose you're right."

"I'm what?" More dimples.

"You're…you're insufferable today, that's what you are."

"Insufferable?"

"There are phone messages under that mess somewhere. Have fun finding them." Donna turned to exit, with a smile.

"There are phone messages already in the 10 minutes we've been back?"

"Yup. Under all the stuff you poured out of your bag."

"Who called?"

"The messages were laid out, in plain sight—"

"Who called? When did they call?"

Donna sighed, and dug through the pile for the little yellow slips. "While you were with Leo. Two calls. Barry Goodwin, the DNC chair—"

"Goody, goody…"

"And Eric Leeds, who is running the venue for the Convention."

"What did he want?"

"Apparently, Leo has decided you are now his liaison with the campaign."

"Yeah, no shit. Apparently I'm the campaign's advance liaison for the whole Convention. So I have to deal with Barry too. Call them both back, and tell them that they can both wait until I'm Boston tomorrow and we can meet in person, because that's what Leo wants."

"You're going to Boston tomorrow?"

"Yeah, Leo's sending me."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't want to do it," Josh growled.

"Who else is going?"

"Just me. Us. Oh, I'd better check on that."

"On what?"

"I need to make sure that Leo's sending you with me." He'd just assumed that Leo was.

"You think he might not?"

"I'm not sure. I've got meeting upon meeting, and you are one of like 3 competent aides this campaign has."

"The other two being?"

"Mrs. Landingham and Margaret."

"I see," Donna grinned. "They're both on salary."

"I'll try again before we go to Boston. I am trying."

"I know," Donna smiled softly at Josh. It was a little peculiar. "So you think Leo will want to keep me here."

"I hope not." Being sent to Boston early was already irritating. It would be unbearable to leave Donna in New Hampshire.

"You should go see him now, because you have a meeting with Toby an CJ in a half hour."

"I'm going. I'll bring back your stipend. That should be ready now. Have you seen my jacket?"

"Did you leave it in Leo's office?"

Josh thought for a minute. "Yes. See, what would I do without you?"

"You'd manage—"

"I—"

"You like to be taken care of, but you're not helpless."

"I need—"

"You managed to take care of yourself for the first 20 years of your adult life before you met me."

"Once you're spoiled, its hard to go back."

"Uh huh."

"You do want to come, right?"

"Of course."

Phew.

"Didn't you just leave my office?"

"Yes, I—"

"Forgot your coat."

"Margaret is walking it back to your office as we speak."

"Thanks."

"I have a question."

"If its your usual question, the answer is still no, unfortunately."

"I know. I know we're in rough shape. I just told her I'd ask."

"You still spotting her?"

"Yeah."

"She know?"

"If she does, she's not letting on, and I'm happy to keep it that way."

Leo nodded. "Anything else?"

"Actually…"

"You're not here to cause me more grief, are you?"

"I don't intend to."

"Good. Be quick. See that stack? I have to read that before my noon meeting."

"That's in 45 minutes."

"Which is why I'm trying to get you out of my office."

"When I go to Boston tomorrow, I can bring Donna right?"

"Is she essential? Cause God knows we could use her here."

"She…I would say she's essential."

"You're in meetings all day."

"But I'm also the point person for the campaign for a week…by myself."

"You are a grown man, but I don't have time to argue with you now. If you think you need Donna to stay on top of things, take Donna."

"Thank you."

"Now, get out of my office." Josh headed out the door, as Leo yelled, "Margaret! No one gets into see me in the next hour unless its an emergency."

She scurried by Josh, as he headed across the old warehouse.

"Hello, Mrs. Landingham."

"Hello Joshua, would you like a cookie?"

"Yes, please."

"Here. And take this back for Donna. That girl needs to eat more. I'd better not hear you ate it."

"I'll make sure she gets it."

"What can I do for you?"

"Could you write Donna's name on an envelope for me again?"

She reached up to her right without looking, and pulled a blank envelope out of a bin. "This is very nice of you."

"Ma'am?"

"You're paying her out of pocket, aren't you?"

"I, uh…" She gave him a stern look. "Yes, ma'am."

"I'm glad you appreciate how much she's kicked your bottom into gear."

"I do, Mrs. Landingham, I do."


	15. Chapter 15

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (15?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

"Beer tonight?" Sam asked, plopping himself down in the folding chair Josh had for visitors with a sigh.

"One of those days?"

"We're on the 100th draft of the speech for the Convention already. Literally."

"Shooting for 1000?"

"I'm shooting to be finished."

"No luck?"

"I've liked everything I've written today. My muse was with me this morning."

"Toby disagrees?"

"Toby's in one of those moods where if one comma isn't exactly right, the whole paragraph goes."

"Well you've got a week."

"I don't know if I can take a week of this."

"Awww, I'm gonna miss you and Toby have it out?"

"When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning at 7."

"Yeah, you'll miss it. I can usually make it two days of this before I go completely insane. You driving to Boston?"

"Yup."

"You're looking forward to it?"

Josh nodded. He was, actually.

"You're bringing Donna." The way Sam said that put Josh on guard.

"Yeah."

"Just you and her?"

"Yes."

Sam cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"There's no way you'd be looking forward to the drive if Donna wasn't going."

"I enjoy her company."

"Obviously."

"Sam…we've been over this. There's nothing going on."

"That's what you both say, but sometimes, the way you act—"

"You've talked to Donna about it!"

"Not this frankly, but yes—"

"Please don't."

"Why?"

"We have a good thing. Our working relationship. I don't want it to get weird."

"And sharing a bed doesn't make it weird?"

"It hasn't."

"How's that going to continue?"

"She's still not on salary."

"Will it stop when she is?"

Josh looked at him. That was something he hadn't thought would give him pause, but now that it was in the air out loud, he had to think. It was something they'd need to address. But he didn't need to address it with Sam. "Yeah, probably."

"Be careful."

"It's not—"

"Still be careful. Even if you're not…appearances…I'm not the only one who thinks—"

"We'll be careful!"

Silence. Sam sat up straight. "Beer?"

"And this conversation is over?"

"Over."

"Not to come up at the bar?"

"Right."

"Okay, I'm in. Let me just finish up."

"I'll go get CJ. She's coming too."

Sam left the door open as he left.

"DONNA!"

"Fighting with Sam?"

"Huh?"

"You got awful loud." Uh oh.

"Did you hear our argument?"

"Just loud voices. Here's the itinerary."

"For the whole week?"

"For tomorrow."

"All of those meetings tomorrow?"

"Flip it over."

"Ugh."

"All of the important meetings are before lunch."

"So, I'll be nice and cranky by the end of the morning."

"You'll be better then than in the late afternoon. Those are the blow off meetings."

"So most of the day is blow off meetings?

"Seems that way."

"When you say blow off, you just mean low priority, right? Or do I not have to go?"

"Nice try."

"I'm going to need—"

"It's all on my desk."

"How did you know what I was going to ask for?"

"You want the delegation breakdowns."

"Yes."

"And the contacts for the labor groups, the teacher's unions, and a plethora of other interest groups that will be courting us in Boston."

"Yes."

"All the info on the other meetings."

"And?"

"The vice president vetting files."

Damn she was good.

"How much space does this take up?"

"It's a few boxes."

"Excellent. Let's get beer."

"We do have to be up—"

"At the same time as usual."

"But then we have to drive…"

"Just a little while. Sam's getting people together. It'll be fun."

"No hard feelings between you two?"

"No, its over. We agreed to drop it."

* * *

"Who needs another?" CJ asked, getting up.

"Me!" Josh yelled.

"How many has that been?" Donna asked.

"Four, five?"

"That's enough." When you lose track, you've had too many.

"I can have one more!"

"Five is plenty. I think it was more than that anyways." She kicked herself for losing track.

"I can handle my liquor!"

"You're getting loud." And that was a sure sign he'd had enough.

"So?"

"So, no more."

Josh sat against the back of the booth, and pouted. Oh, that was adorable.

"You let her cut you off?" CJ laughed.

Josh looked up at her. "No. I'll have another!" He turned to Donna, and grinned. "Ha!"

"We'll see if you're this smug tomorrow morning."

"Donna, do you want another?" CJ asked.

"Sure, what the hell?" She might as well have some fun.

"Whiskey sour?"

Donna nodded.

"And a beer!" Josh shouted.

"Yes, Joshua, a beer. Sam, come with me."

"Why?"

"Four drinks, two hands."

Sam pulled himself to his feet and followed CJ.

"You're having another drink."

"I've had 2."

"You're drinking hard liquor."

"Josh, I…I can hold my liquor better than you can."

"I'm still on top of my game," Josh scooted closer to her in the booth. "Just mellow."

"If you're mellow, you're definitely drunk."

"No!"

"I seem to recall an evening in February—"

"The Iowa caucus—"

"—where you ended up—"

"—that was a rough night—"

"—puking for like 3 hours—"

"—but I'm drinking beer tonight—"

"—and me having to clean you up and make sure you—"

"—and I was drinking scotch that night—"

"—didn't choke on your vomit—"

"—a lot of scotch—"

"And then in the morning—"

"I haven't drank scotch since then—"

"—I had to practically drag your ass to the shower—"

"—I don't even really like scotch—"

"—you could barely stand—"

"That had been a terrible day."

"And it was followed by another terrible day."

"Yeah."

"Do you want our road trip tomorrow to be that miserable?" She looked at him pointedly. She was looking forward to this time in the car with him again. She didn't want him hung over for it.

"No."

"Then is another beer a good idea?"

"I'm not really that drunk."

"I know your not that drunk…yet. I'm trying to you from getting that drunk."

"Just this one, then I promise, done."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Lets shake on it." Donna extended her hand. Josh grasped it, and shook it, as CJ and Sam cam back with the drinks.

"Making a bet?" CJ asked, sliding Donna's drink across to her.

"A pact."

"A pact?"

"This is his last beer," she began. "Isn't it?"

Josh nodded. He still hadn't let go of her hand. He squeezed it under the table, and Donna's heart began to race.

"Why does he have to make a pact? What does he get out of it?" Sam asked, giving Josh a look Donna didn't like.

She smiled, broad and fake. "He doesn't have to listen to me go on and on about inane topics of my choosing on the car ride."

"That's all?" Sam questioned. CJ kicked him, hard under the table. She was trying to be discrete, but failing miserably.

"And, he doesn't get a hangover."

"Ah, the real benefit. She knows your limit better than you do."

"She does. Sometimes, I think she can read my mind. Today, she had all the files ready for the Boston trip before I even thought about them."

"I know what you need for everything on your schedule."

"Its freaky how well you know," Josh grinned, squeezing her hand again.

Donna hoped that CJ and Sam hadn't noticed that he still had her hand. She finished her drink, and pulled away from him a bit. "Well, I'm going to bed now. The 6am wake up call is going to come way too soon."

"You sucked that down quick," Sam laughed.

"Where are you staying, Donna?" CJ asked, kindly.

"I haven't had a chance to go anywhere yet. I figure I'll just get a room at the Motel 6 down the street for the night."

Sam looked to Josh. Josh looked up at Donna. "Those places are sleezy."

"Its fine."

"Its not. Let me at least walk down there with you. Its 1am…there are probably all sorts of characters in the lobby of a hotel like that."

"In Manchester, New Hampshire?" Sam snorted.

"Josh…" He still hadn't released her hand, and was now squeezing it very tightly. He stared at her intently. "Fine, walk me."

Donna released his hand, and stood up, he followed, leaving his beer half finished on the table.

"G'night, guys." They headed outside.

"Good night," CJ called, sharing a look with Sam.

"Josh…"

"Sorry."

"That was—"

"You can't stay at the Motel 6—"

"It's just one night."

"At this point, its 5 hours, and that's a waste of half your stipend."

"Josh—"

"Just stay with me. It's all you've done for two weeks, and what we're doing in Boston. What's different about Manchester?"

"I just wish you hadn't done it like that in front of CJ and Sam."

"They don't care…that much."

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but its weird to other people."

"Yeah."

"So, we hadn't talked about where I went when we were in Manchester—"

"Sorry, I should have—"

"I just don't want to draw a bad kind of attention—"

"Agreed." Josh offered his hand to shake. "Quiet."

"Yeah…"

He led her down the street, towards the quaint little hotel he was staying in, by the hand which he had yet to let go of.


	16. Chapter 16

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (16?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

"Did the meeting just end, or did you go out after?"

"It just ended," Josh growled, flinging his backpack at the floor and dead falling onto the bed beside where Donna sat reading.

"Exciting meeting?"

"You're not funny."

"Yes, I am."

"Fine. You're funny usually. That was not funny."

"What was the last meeting about? It was Leeds again, right?"

"I really don't care about things like what color the tablecloths are."

"He's on your schedule again tomor—"

"Tomorrow you're taking it."

"I'm taking it?"

"Yeah."

"Like, by myself?"

"You're perfectly capable of taking a meeting to discuss hospitality and candidate wrangling."

"You sure?"

"No question. And if something comes up you're unsure about, call my cell."

He trusted her enough to take a meeting alone? This was new. And very promising. "You really don't care about any of that stuff?"

"Not at all. I have so much to read and do that I just get really snarky and rude when I'm forced to sit through a meeting on food preferences for the catering table. When Leo said he was sending me to absolutely every…What are you doing?"

Donna had sat up, and grabbed the hotel notepad from the bedside table, and was now writing furiously. "I'm writing some questions that I'll need Margaret to find me the answers to tomorrow morning."

Josh laughed from his prone position. "Like what?"

"If there are any foods the Governor doesn't like, any flowers that Dr. Bartlet particularly does, that kind of thing."

"Which is why you are so much better suited to that meeting than I am."

Donna grinned. To him, it seemed like a lousy job, but to her it was a great opportunity. She wanted to make sure he knew she felt that way. "Thank you."

"For pawning off a lousy meeting?"

"For giving me the experience."

"Better you than me."

"You say that, but—"

"You will do a phenomenal job. You know I wouldn't have pawned it off if I didn't think that."

"I appreciate that. The whole thing…oh!" Donna began to write quickly again.

"What?"

"I thought of another question."

Josh laughed and closed his eyes. "I'm fried."

Donna was finding it hard to resist the urge stroke his back. He looked like he could use it, but despite everything, she had a feeling it was crossing the line. "You hungry?"

"Mmmhmm."

"You wanna order in?" Donna asked, climbing over him to the phone. She gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.

"Mmm…"

Did he just moan? Deep breath. "What do you want for dinner?"

"That felt nice," he commented at the same time.

Another deep breath. "Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Do you, uh, want me to rub your back a little?"

"I'm not trying coerce you."

"I know. I offered."

"Well, I'm not going to turn down a back rub."

Donna knelt down beside him. "Any spot that particularly hurts?"

"The whole thing."

"Okay, then."

Donna placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly began to work out the kinks. He was right, his back was one big knot. It was going to take a long time to work them all out. She ran her hand up his back, and shivered. She'd woken up tangled in his arms everyday for over a week now, but she's never really touched him. He was surprisingly muscular.

"You're good at that."

"Yeah?"

"Detail oriented, just like with work."

Donna laughed. "Why don't I order the food, then finish this?"

"Okay…"

"What?"

Josh chuckled.

"What?"

"I was just being selfish."

"You don't want the backrub to stop."

"Not especially."

"I'll come right back to it."

"I feel bad. We're eating in again. We've been here three days, and we haven't really gotten to explore at all."

"I've seen a little, while you were in meetings, but not much."

"What did you see?"

"Faneuil Hall. I walked a little of the Freedom Trail."

"That's fun. I wish I had time to show you around. Tomorrow's packed, but maybe the day after?"

"I'll try to keep your schedule light."

"Good."

"What do you want to show me?"

"I don't know, but most of the places that give Boston its character aren't open at 10pm."

"Never experienced the nightlife?" Donna smiled at the thought of Josh in college.

"Very rarely. I spent a lot of late nights in the library in college. I mean I knew bars and stuff like that, who knows if they're still there…but that's not the kind of stuff that makes Boston great. We have to go to the North End and get a cannoli. Go over to Cambridge and walk around Harvard. That kind of thing. Not sit in meetings all day for the whole week."

"That is why we're here."

"I know, but still…I went to school here…it's the first time you've ever been…I'd like to impart something…I don't know."

Donna smiled, and patted his back. "I think that's as good as I'm going to get it."

Josh rolled onto his side. "Thank you. I can't remember the last time I got a back rub."

"Mandy's not the back rub type?" Donna snickered.

"Ha! Only to inflict pain. Make it seem all nice and sweet and then wham! Fingernail. I stopped letting her."

Donna laughed.

"Let's go see what we can find for dinner." Josh sat up slowly.

"You want to go out?"

"Yeah. Let's take a walk."

"I thought you were fried."

"I've been rejuvenated."

"And how did that happen?" Donna smiled. This blatant flirting was bad, but it came so easily.

"Hmm…I wonder." And he gave it back as good as he got it.

"Where do you want to go?"

"We'll find something."

Donna stood up and offered her hand to Josh, pulling him to his feet. He smiled at her, full dimples, and led her by the arm to the door.


	17. Chapter 17

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (17?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

"That bridge is going to be really pretty."

"Yeah, much nicer than the old monstrosity sitting next to it."

"Are they going to knock that down when the new one opens?"

"Eventually. The whole thing is coming down eventually."

"This timeline says its still like 5 years off."

"They'll never finish They've been working on it as long as I can remember."

"Bullshit. They hadn't even started when you graduated from college."

"How'd you know that?"

"We're looking at a time line. Construction didn't begin until 1991. They hadn't even begun the report stage when you graduated."

"And when was that?"

"1982."

Josh scowled and nodded.

"Feeling old?"

Yes, yes he was. "Just a little. What year did you graduate?"

"You know I didn't graduate from—"

Shit. He hadn't meant it to come out like that. "I know, I know. I meant high school." Which he had.

"We were talking college for you."

"What year?" Part of him didn't want to hear this.

"1991."

"Oh god."

"Josh, you know how old I am."

He hated being reminded that he was 13 years older than she was. "Yeah, but when held in direct comparison…"

Donna laughed and patted his back. "Old man."

Josh shoved her. "Come on, lets go to another exhibit."

"Not interested in the Big Dig?"

"We've been here for 15 minutes now—"

"You have a short attention sp—"

"My attention span is just fine when the topic interests me."

"Uh huh."

"I can sit and read domestic policy all day."

"But you can't take half an hour of hospitality."

"Right. That's what you're for."

"Oh?"

"You're doing a great job with that. Eric Leeds called me up yesterday, after the first meeting, to say thank you for sending the girl because she gives a damn."

"Really?"

"In exactly those words. You're joining us for the meeting with him and the DNC tonight."

"Who's us?"

"Senior staff. Leo, Toby, CJ, Sam…and Mandy."

"And me?"

"You're our point person on hospitality."

"You don't care if everyone finds out you've been pawning these meetings off on me."

"Nah. Leo will just be glad to see it was done well."

"Yeah?"

"He might be a little pissed, at me at first, for begging off, but he'll be pleased when he sees how well its come together so far."

Josh smiled as he watched Donna beam at his compliment.

"So what is the next step?"

"Tonight's meeting is about placement and stuff like that. It's a full team game now. But you're going to play with the team."

"That was a corny phrase."

"It was not."

"Yes it was."

"Oh…just so you're prepared..you're going to have to work with Mandy on this a little tonight. Get her up to speed on things like color choices and other stupid shit like that. This is her thing. Its what she's phenomenal at."

"Okay. I can deal with Mandy."

"Yeah?"

"I figure you're going to make yourself scarce, and I only get terse with Mandy when she starts getting snippy with you."

Josh wasn't sure what to make of that remark. "Why?"

"Because everything slows to a crawl when you two fight. Everything."

"Okay. Good then. I won't show my face. Now, can we please go to another exhibit?"

"Short—"

"We don't have that much more time. Do you want to only have seen like 3 exhibits at the Science museum?"

"No."

"Then stop being a pain, and pick where you want to go next."

Donna pulled the museum map from her purse. "The Theatre of Electricity."

The wandered down the gallery to the entrance.

"A show just begun."

"Well, lets go in."

They sat on a bench in the upper level. A large bolt of electricity shot from one of the giant orbs to the other. Josh grabbed Donna's hand. She was grinning broadly, and squeezed his hand back. This was going to be a fun half hour.

* * *

"And they have our giant banner?"

"Its hung already. We're on one of the upstage linesets. I thought that that would be better."

"Why?"

"Why? Oh. He took me out to the stage, and had the kid fly in all the batons from the giant truss they set up. There's ultimately going to be something on all of them, but he let me pick. Most of them cut off half the stage. The Governor will have a good deal of room, and not look crowded."

"He took you out on the stage?"

"Yeah. He was very kind to me—"

"Eric Leeds is an asshole. Why would he—"

"I think he sensed that I'd never done this."

"I'd think he'd take advantage of you."

"He was very nice."

"He and I don't get along."

"I think he's afraid of Josh…that's why he was nice to me."

"Sadly, that doesn't work for me."

"No."

"I ruffle too many feathers."

Donna laughed.

"Do you think I ruffle too many feathers?"

"I, uh… think that you are a …very determined woman."

"Which is a nice way of saying I'm a bitch."

"I—"

"Don't worry, I know I am."

"Um…okay."

"Is Josh joining us for this meeting?"

"No. He thinks he'll just cause trouble. And would much rather read education briefings."

"He would cause trouble."

"Eric called him up yesterday to tell him how much he preferred me to him."

"Of course he prefers you to Josh. You have tits. And Eric thinks that what he does is the most important thing in the world. So for a pretty young girl to take an interest in it, he's thrilled."

Donna chuckled. "I guess whatever it takes…within reason of course…I'm not saying—"

"I know what you're saying. Sometimes you have to flirt your way to what you want. I think we all do it."

"Yeah…"

"You do it with Josh. Its how you keep him in line."

"You think?"

"Josh is a player. He likes to feel important. To be revered. And you give him that. Which is why he likes you."

That wasn't the only reason Josh liked her, Donna hoped. She thought he respected her more than that.

"How did you come up with our requests for the catering?"

"I called Margaret, who spoke to Leo and Mrs. Landingham."

"Good."

"And our conference room?"

"Fully equipped. Fax, internet, several phone lines."

"How much of this was negotiated by Josh before—"

"Very little."

"Impressive."

"Thank you."

"Have you gotten to see Boston at all?"

"Today we went to the Science museum."

"You and Josh?"

"Yeah."

"Huh."

"He wanted to show me around a little. After all the boring meetings this week."

"I see. And did you enjoy it?"

"We had a great time."

"I think tonight you'll be able to take Josh's room. I'm going to steal him away again."

"Oh, uh, okay."

"Hopefully, he stops being a jackass and stays the whole night."

"Well—"

"Did he tell you about last time?"

"Briefly."

"He didn't like talking policy…did he go back to his room that night?"

Donna swallowed. Should she admit it? Mandy stared at her icily. "He did."

"Have you slept with Josh?"

"Excuse me?"

"I meant shared his room."

No, she hadn't. "Yeah, we've shared his room, on occasion." Every night for the last two weeks.

"Huh." Mandy was looking at her intently.

Donna busied herself in the paperwork in front of her.

"So how does that work, exactly?"

"The beds are big."

"You share the bed?"

To hell with trying to be vague. "Yes."

"Is that a good idea?"

Donna sighed. "Who knows?" It was the truth. It probably wasn't a good idea, but she wasn't giving it up for now, until she had to.

"It's not you know. Sleeping with your boss—"

"We're not sleeping together!" Donna caught her voice as it was getting loud. Mandy gave her a strange look. "Well, we're not sleeping together sleeping together. We're just sleeping. And usually for only like 3 hours."

"Appearances don't distinguish between the two."

Donna looked down at her shoes. She knew that. They were treading a fine line.


	18. Chapter 18

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (18?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. This one's got some swearing.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

Josh leaned against the door frame as he dug around in his pocket for the door key. Finding it, he struggled to get it into the slot, and out, with the proper speed. He had trouble with this sober, six glasses of champagne later, he didn't have a prayer. Josh stood up straight, and pounded on the door. He figured Donna was still down at the party, but it was worth a shot.

"Just a second!"

Josh steadied himself against the door frame once again while he waited. After a moment, she opened the door. She was wearing the button down blouse she'd had on all day, and his boxer shorts. So hot.

"You're here."

"It appears so."

"You're not still down at the party."

Donna shrugged. "I'd been there long enough."

"It's still going strong."

"You left like 2 hours ago."

"Yeah, well..uh…yeah."

"I decided I'd had enough to drink."

"Are you sloshed?"

"Josh!"

"Are you?" Josh laughed, as he walked into the room, and sat on the bed. The room wasa spinning a bit.

Donna eyed him with amusement. "You are."

"I…yeah, a little."

"A little?"

"Well—"

"I'm a little drunk. You…are sloshed."

"Am not."

"Is that why you're back so soon?"

"Huh?"

"Too drunk to…?"

She was enjoying this way too much. He blamed the alcohol. "No! I could…I was…"

"Mandy piss you off again?"

"Mandy got pissed at me and kicked me out."

Donna cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Opposite problem to what you guessed…too fast for her liking."

Donna cracked up and flopped on the bed beside him.

"It's not funny…okay, a little…but it wasn't indi..indicative of my, uh…usual performance…I, uh…it gave me a way out at least."

"No way out for you the last few nights?"

"Things have been tolerable."

"Tolerable?"

Josh shrugged. "Yeah. I mean…its sex…if she's not being too irritating, the sex is fine."

Donna shook her head.

"What? You've never…wait, I don't want to know."

"If I've ever continued to sleep with someone even when everything else is gone? Well, yes—"

"Lalalalala…" Josh covered his ears. He really didn't want to know, and regretted bringing it up.

"—with Roy that's what it became. Stop that!"

She leaned in and grabbed his arm to remove his hands from his ears. He pulled away fast, but her grip was so tight that she ended up tumbling on top of him. She started laughing.

"You are so drunk."

"Am—"

"You have no coordination—"

"I do too!"

"If you did, I wouldn't have ended up on top of you." No, probably not, sadly.

She lay diagonally across him, resting her cheek on his chest. She looked so beautiful like that.

"How do you know?"

"Josh…"

"How do you know that wasn't inten—"

"You're drunk."

"You're not moving."

"I…I'm drunk too."

"I thought you said—"

"Josh…"

"I did not need to hear that, by the way."

"You asked."

"I know. But I didn't actually want to know."

"You don't like to think about me like that?"

No, he didn't. He was getting very possessive of her lately. "No, I don't—"

"Why?" She looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest now.

"I , uh…I don't know…I just feel protective, I guess…"

"Protective? Protecting me from sex?" she giggled.

"I don't know…I…yeah…its like you're my little sister." Not quite.

Donna cocked her eyebrow at him again. "Little sister?"

"I, uh…ahh! Stop that!"

Donna had reached down and tickled his side. "If I'm a little sister…"

"Donna!"

He squirmed beneath her, trying to allude her hand, but she persisted. She reached up and grabbed at the back of his neck, her weight shifter all the way on top of him, and all the physical movement was going straight to his groin. He needed to get her off of him now.

Josh reached up and tickled her side. Her shirt had ridden up, and his hand contacted bare skin. For a moment, they both froze. Quickly, he broke the moment, going for her side again. She yelped, and he rolled her over, so that he was now on top of her. Donna continued to wiggle beneath him as he discovered that she was just as ticklish as he was. He struggled to hold himself up enough that his erection wasn't pressing against her thigh. He succeeded for few moments, until she went for his neck again, and he toppled down onto her.

"Ow!"

"Did I hurt you?" Josh struggled to catch his breath, but didn't climb off.

"I'm fine," Donna laughed. "I just wasn't expecting you to lose your balance."

"I'm drunk."

"Yeah…" Donna bit her lip.

Josh settled his head into the nook between her neck and shoulder. She touched his back, and he jumped slightly.

"You're really ticklish," Donna smiled.

"Mmmm. So are you."

"Yup. I wasn't trying to tickle you just then."

"I know…I'm just…hypersensitive right now."

"I see."

He wasn't sure if she was referencing what was currently pressing into her leg. "It's just that being tickled, makes you—"

"More ticklish."

"Right." Josh really didn't want to move. He wondered how long he could push this. "So tomorrow—"

"Is it actually a day off? That's what Margaret said—"

"About that--"

"Not a day off?—"

"Well, I have to go to DC with Leo…make sure the headquarters are set up right, that kind of thing. Leo said I can't make you go."

"I can't go to DC?"

"Oh, you can. I just can't force you to come with us tomorrow. You can if you want to, or you can come in two days with everyone else."

"I want to go tomorrow."

"Good."

"Yeah?"

"Cause I could use your help."

"You always need my help."

"Yeah…" Josh replied softly. He propped himself back up a little, and looked at her face. She was blushing furiously. He wanted to kiss her. Badly.

"You're flushed…" His faced was huskier than he'd intended.

She reached up and touched his cheek. God, that was hot. "So are you."

"I am?" he squeaked.

Donna laughed. "Yeah…you are."

"The alcohol…"

"Oh…"

"I—"

"You're not going to remember anything in the morning."

Josh sighed and finally rolled off her, saying softly, "I hope I do…"

He now lay just o her side, propped on his arm, their legs still tangled. Her face was just inches away. He really wanted to kiss her. Instead, he just started. She had really pretty eyes. Greenish grey.

Donna waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Earth to Josh…Josh."

He snapped out of his reverie. "Yeah?"

"What were you doing?"

"I …I was just thinking…I…" Josh leaned in slowly, unable to fight the urge to kiss her any longer. She leaned in to meet him. Their lips had just brushed ever so slightly, when a knock at the door startled them, and he ended up kissing her cheek.

She jumped up to her feet. "Who's at the door at 2am?"

Josh remained laying. "I don't know…I, uh…"

"I'll answer it. Or should I not?"

"Answer it. I think everyone knows you're staying me by now."

She pulled the door open. "Hi, Leo."

"Sorry to wake you so late, kid—"

"I wasn't sleeping yet—"

"Is Josh here?" Leo's voice wasn't accusatory, that was good. Donna gestured to where he was laying face down on the bed. "Oh jeez. How drunk are you?

"Not very. Just tired."

"Sorry to wake you."

"Just about to go to bed. I just got back."

"I see. Things bad with Mandy again?"

"Sort of."

"Don't bring it to work with you."

"She's staying on?"

"Yes. I have hired her for the rest of the campaign."

"Leo!"

"She's good, Josh. You know that. We need her—"

"I—"

"Josh, she's hired. I expect you to work professionally with her."

"I…I will."

"Just keep your personal life out of the office. That's all I'm asking."

"I will," Josh propped himself on his elbows. "What can I do for you?"

"Tomorrow we need to take a flight by 11."

"No problem."

"Leo, do you want me to make those arrangements?" Donna asked.

"She's coming."

"Did he tell you that you're allowed to take your day off?"

"Of course I did!"

"I wanted to go."

"Okay, then. That would be great if you could set that up. Margaret is plastered. I was going to do it myself."

"11am flight?"

"Right. You going to be able to get yourself together by 9, Josh?"

He nodded.

"Well, good night. Get some sleep. And remember what I said: keep your personal life out of the office. G'night."

He left, and Donna crossed to the bathroom. "We should go to bed. I'm gonna finish changing. You should too."

Josh watched her close the door, then slowly stood up. He pulled off his pants, and unbuttoned his shirt. Throwing both on the floor, Josh crawled under the covers. Donna reemerged and shut off the light. She climbed onto the bed close to him, and Josh inched in toward her. They were just going to end up tangled, why not go to sleep that way? She looked at him for a moment, then turned on her side, away from him, but her back was touching. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tight. He was asleep in minutes.


	19. Chapter 19

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (19?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I will admit, I've borrowed liberally from my story "Welcome to Washington" which was originally done in first person Donna, for the last part. This is probably going to be the last chapter till Monday. I'm in tech for my show this weekend, and I'll be very busy…I may surprise myself, but I'm going to say Monday to be safe.

"Your office here is nicer."

"I guess."

"There's a window." The window really made all the difference.

"With a tight view of the building next door."

"I have a cubicle."

"Your own cubicle."

"Cubicles are sad."

Josh laughed. "We'll hardly ever be here."

"Still…"

"It's a step up. Its your own space."

"No, those don't go there!"

Josh gave Donna a perplexed look. So adorable. "There's plenty of room!"

"They need to go in the filing cabinet, with the other newspaper clippings. There."

She took the pile from his hands, and put it away.

"There was more room—"

"And you have five more boxes of briefing reports coming from Manchester to fill that bookcase."

"Oh."

"My filing system makes sense."

"Only to you."

"No!"

"I still don't get it."

"Well, you've mostly been dealing with the fileboxes."

"I get those. I don't get the strange shelves and drawers bit. I was alone for three weeks and I couldn't find a damn thing."

He hadn't meant it as a dig, she could tell, but it still hurt. "You couldn't find anything before I organized you either."

"Yes, I could—"

"No, you couldn't."

Donna finished the box she was working on, and sat on his desk.

"Decided you're done working for the day?" He grinned, bearing the dimples that made her melt.

"Are we?" she smiled, kicking him.

"Soon."

"I want to explore DC."

Josh looked amusedly at her. "Have you ever been to DC before today?"

"Once, a long time ago. With my family, when I was in second grade, to see the pandas."

"We had the pandas already when you were in second grade?"

"We had the pandas before she was born, is my guess," Leo laughed from the door way.

Donna nodded.

"God," Josh sighed.

"Getting older there, Josh."

"I know. I know."

"I think my daughter's older than Donna."

"How old is Mal?"

"She just turned 28."

"Yup, she's older."

"Wow. I'm 10 years older than Mallory?"

"Yeah, and I'm old enough—"

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'm heading out. We're in good shape. You kids should go enjoy yourselves."

"I haven't seen my apartment in—"

"I've barely seen my wife in months"

"Yikes. I hope you're doing something nice."

"A very nice dinner, yes."

"You all set for tonight, kiddo?"

"Uh…yeah…" Truth be told, she didn't know. She looked to Josh.

"Yeah. I have a guest room," Josh answered quickly.

Leo nodded. "See you tomorrow." He left.

"Sorry to make that weird in front of Leo."

"No, its okay. He…he didn't seem to care that you're staying in my apartment."

"No…"

"Of course, he knew we shared a room last night at least. Hell, Leo's probably known all along. Especially because CJ knew."

"I'm surprised its not a problem."

Josh shrugged.

"Can we go see the monuments now?"

"You're going to drag me—"

"Please?"

"Let's wait a bit."

"Joooosh!" Donna whined.

He snickered. "You'll be happier if we wait."

"Why?"

"They're prettier at night."

"But—"

"We've still got an hour now that we can go see the Smithsonian—"

"Oooh!"

"and get dinner. Which—?"

"American History."

"You want to see the ruby slippers," Josh smirked.

Donna blushed. He was right.

"Aww," He grinned at her, and she turned away from him as the dimples came out. "You're turning red."

"Shut up."

"It's cute."

"Shut up."

"What's your problem with being cute?"

"You're making fun of me."

"No…" she raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay. I am. But only because its adorable when you're embarrassed."

What did that mean? "I am?"

"Definitely."

Donna felt herself blushing even more. "I love The Wizard of Oz."

"Of course you do. You grew up in the Midwest. I bet you always wished you could be Dorothy."

Donna nodded sheepishly. "Do you like The Wizard of Oz?"

"I haven't seen it in a long, long time…my sister used to love it."

"Yeah?" It was rare that he talked about his sister.

"Yeah," he answered softly. "I probably saw it once a week when I was little."

"Awww."

"Because at that age, whatever Joanie liked, I liked."

"You probably know the movie by heart."

Josh shrugged, and sat down in his chair. "Its been what? 30…oh god, it has been 30 years since…I've seen it…I didn't realize…oh…" He leaned onto his desk, his head resting in his hands.

Donna crossed around the desk, unsure of what to do. Gingerly, she reached out and lay her hand on his back, stroking gently.

Josh sighed and took a deep breath. "Sorry."

"No…don't be…are you all right?"

"I'll be fine in a minute."

"Is…has it been 30 years since…uh…?"

"Yeah. Joanie did 30 years ago. I hadn't realized that it was exactly 30 years between her and dad. A father shouldn't out-survive—"

Josh lowered his head deeper into his arms. Donna continued to rub his back. After a moment, he sat up.

"Let's get out of here."

"We don't have to go to—"

"I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"Come on."

"It's dark out."

"I noticed."

"So now we can go see the monuments."

"I guess"

"You promised."

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"Did I sign anything?"

"Josh! You promised. Museum. Dinner. And then the monuments."

"Come on," he smiled, and pulled her down the street toward the Washington Monument.

"Why do you hate the monuments?"

"I don't hate the monuments. I've just seen them a million times. And it's a lot of walking."

"You just hate the outdoors in general."

Josh laughed.

They walked over to the side of the monument, and we stopped. He was right about the Monument being gorgeous when lit at night. Josh let Donna take in the sight in silence, watching her reaction closely. After a minute, he took her by my shoulders and spun her. And there was the Lincoln Memorial, light up, and shining in the Reflecting Pool. His hands remained on her shoulders.

"Can we walk closer?"

"First, I want to show you one more. We're not going to walk all the way to this one. Much too far, even in good weather."

"The Jefferson?"

"Yeah."

"Wimp."

"Looks better from across the water anyways."

They walked to the edge of the tidal basin and there was the Jefferson Memorial.

"They're all so pretty."

Josh nodded.

"You say this one's not worth the walk?"

"Maybe in nice weather it is. There are some nice quotes." Josh looked toward the Memorial. "I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

Donna giggled. Of course he knew the quotations by heart.

"What?"

"You're a dork."

"So are you," he smiled. With the dimples. And as usual, she melted a bit. "Do you want to walk closer?"

"Huh?" Donna snapped out of her reverie.

"I was asking if you wanted to walk closer to the Lincoln Memorial, and see the Vietnam Memorial."

Donna nodded. He laced his hand into hers and led her back across the Mall.

"Can we get a good look at that from the front later? On the way back to your apartment?"

"The White House?"

"Yeah."

"With any luck, we'll be seeing plenty of the White House."

"Yeah," Donna stared off at it. "Me too?"

Josh turned to her. "Of course. If we win, you're coming with me, no question."

"Thank you."

"It's not some favor, some chance anymore…you know that, right?"

Donna nodded. She was pretty sure that was the case, but it was always hard to be sure.

"You have proved that my taking a chance on you was the right choice."

She smiled broadly at him, and squeezed his hand.

"Of course we can look at it tonight if you want. I've seen it all before. This is all about you."

Donna laughed. "I'm going to remember you said that."


	20. Chapter 20

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (20?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Real Life has delayed my updating this story as much as I would like to.

Josh stared at the ceiling. After months of sleeping on hotel mattresses, it was strange to be in his own bed. After three weeks of sharing a bed, it was strange to be sleeping alone. He found it a little disconcerting just how much he'd gotten used to spending the night with Donna. She was his assistant, not his girlfriend. He shouldn't be missing her in his bed. But nonetheless he was, and couldn't sleep as a result. Josh rolled over and looked at the clock. 1:30am. He'd been staring at the ceiling for half an hour now.

Finally, Josh climbed out of bed, and padded into the living room. Donna was curled up in one corner of the couch, with the TV still on, flickering in the darkness. She looked up as he approached.

"Can't sleep?"

Josh shook his head.

"Me either."

"It's weird to be at home." Josh flopped down on the couch beside Donna.

"Yeah?"

"I haven't been home in months."

"It shows."

"Hey!"

"You can't sleep at home?"

Josh shrugged. "I'm used to hotels."

"Yeah, me too."

"It's just weird, you know?" It seemed like she was feeling similarly awkward.

Donna nodded.

"You want to put the TV on?"

"Sure, if you want."

"Well, you can try to sleep if you want…you can sleep in the other room if you want to…I doubt I'll get much sleep."

"Put the TV on, I'll watch for a while."

"Okay…where's the remote?"

Donna sat forward to grab it off the coffee table, and Josh lay down behind her.

"Getting comfy?"

"Might as well."

"Yeah."

Donna sat back against his chest. This was a bad idea, like so many lately.

"CNN?"

"Of course."

"Of course," Donna mocked, and lay back down in front of him.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she pulled her blanket around them both. After a few minutes of watching the TV, he could feel his eyes getting heavy. He closed them, and quickly fell into the steady rhythm of Donna's breathing, falling asleep.

* * *

"All I'm asking, is for somebody to find the damn file!" Toby bellowed. "What? Can none of you find it? Are you even looking?"

"No luck," Sam declared.

"You had it last."

"That was over a week ago. We didn't think we'd need that data again."

"Well, I do, and our copy of that briefing is nowhere to be found! CJ, have you seen a copy of it?"

"What do you need from it?"

"The figures. The damn numbers about the childhood poverty rates! He's addressing the Child Welfare League of America this week, his speech should reflect the statistics!"

"Well, yeah, that would be a good idea."

"Gee, you're helpful."

Josh walked by, his nose buried in a file. Headquarters was a bustle of activity since everyone else had arrived.

"Do you have your briefing book with all the children's education and poverty stats?"

"I'm sure I still have it."

"Do you know where it is?"

"The only files I know the location of are the ones that get put directly in front of me—"

"So no."

"No, I have no idea. I read it at some point. I couldn't spout the numbers back at you, but—"

"You're no help."

"But ask Donna. She'll be able to find it like that." Josh snapped his fingers.

"Really?"

"Her filing system is meticulous. Only she understands it, but it really works for her."

Toby nodded, continued down the corridor to Josh's office, where Donna sat on the floor with an array of folders spread out around her.

"Hi."

"Josh is down the hall with CJ."

"I'm looking for you."

"Oh." Donna stood up. She was a little afraid of Toby. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a file. No one can find it. Josh thinks you can."

"What file?"

"Childhood poverty rates, education…"

"Recent?"

"Yeah."

"The one with all of the immunization data, and free lunch ratios—"

"Yes."

Donna knelt back down beside one of the filing cabinets, and in a matter of seconds had retrieved a folder. "Here you go."

Toby leafed through it. "What are these?" " pointed to several blue note cards that were clipped to the front of the briefing book.

"That's the summary."

"Summary?"

"Sometimes I…uh…pre-read…articles for Josh, and, uh, pick out the salient facts."

"I see."

"It draws his eye to the important parts."

"And so I should be able to find all of the stats I need on these blue cards?"

"Probably. But for page by page data, look at the post-it notes on the side."

"These pink things?"

"Yup. The data of the page, summed up."

"Do you do this for all of his briefings?"

"Not all."

"But most?"

"Yeah…"

"And do you think that's above what your job calls for?"

"Well, my job is very loosely defined at the moment."

"Do you seek a better definition?"

"I seek an actual salary."

"You're not on salary yet? You're still not making any money?"

"I—"

"That jackass hasn't put…I'm going to have a word with—"

"Toby—he tries. He's tried consistently. Leo keeps telling him in a week, in a week."

"Well, now that we're playing in the big leagues, they'd better get going. How have you survived with no money? Where have you been sleeping? Have you been eating?"

Toby was apparently the only person on the whole campaign who didn't know she was spending nights in Josh's hotel room.

"I've been getting by. I've gotten a stipend for the last few weeks—"

"A stipend? How have you gotten a stipend? You're either on salary or your not!"

"I've gotten an envelope—"

"Full of cash."

"Well, not full, but yes, cash."

"That didn't seem odd to you?"

"It did. It does. But…I've decided not to question it."

"But you know what's going on?"

"Yeah."

"I guess he can be a good guy everyone and a while, when he's not being a complete jackass."

"He's been very good to me. Usually buys my food, makes sure I have a place to stay…I'm taken care of for now."

Toby looked at her, with a raised eyebrow. Donna felt a little uneasy.

"Where have you been staying?"

Donna looked at the ground.

"Where?"

"With Josh."

"You're sleeping with your boss—"

"Not in the way that you're imply—"

"Does CJ know?"

Donna nodded.

"Who else?"

"Sam. I think Leo knows too. He hasn't addressed it."

"Be careful. Don't let him take advantage of you, you hear?"

"I won't—he's not. It's not like that."

"Okay, then. Just remember, if he tries anything you're uncomfortable with—"

"Thank you. But I'm fine, Toby. Really."

Toby nodded, and headed out the door. "Thanks for the file. I'll bring it back by when I'm done."

Donna watched him leave. Josh appeared in the doorway.

"Did you find what he needed?"

Donna nodded.

"Why was he raising his voice at you?"

"He, uh…finally figured out—"

"That you'd been staying with me."

"Yeah."

"And he was pissed."

"At you mostly."

"I'm sure I'll hear it from him later."

"He kept asking if I was okay with it all. I'm fine."

"Good." They stood in silence for a minute. "If you weren't, you'd let me know, right?"

Donna nodded.

"I was just over with Leo," he produced an envelope from his jacket pocket. "You are officially a salaried employee of Bartlet for America."

Donna took the envelope from his hands and opened it. "This is great. Thank you!" She flung her arms around his neck.

He squeezed her tightly, and inhaled deeply. "All of your travel is now covered, and, uh, housing will be—"

"Will be?"

"Leo said that he'll assign you a room when he hires another woman on the assistant level that you can share with, but until then, as long as we're fine with it, our arrangement would work."

"I'm fine with that."

Josh nodded. "Me too."

Donna looked at the check in her hands, then up at Josh who was grinning broadly at her reaction. Her life was finally locked in a good directions.


	21. Chapter 21

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (21?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: was being silly last night, so I couldn't post this here..

"Where's the—?"

"Here."

"Is it tabb—?"

"Where the data is. Like usual. You won't care about the rest."

"Great."

"This one you'll want to read the section that the green post-it is wrapped around, and this one you just need to read the whole thing. Blue summary cards are clipped to them all. These three, here, are short, and unimportant. The summaries will suffice. The—"

"Donna, when did you read all of these?"

"Last night."

"Thrilling evening reading environmental policy?"

Donna smiled. "Its not that bad."

"I hate environmental policy."

"What a reassuring attitude for the campaign's domestic policy advisor. Especially since we're in Texas."

Josh smacked her with a briefing book. "I hate reading about environmental policy."

"Is that better?"

"I do the reading. I just hate every minute of it. So, as you can see, this is going to be a wonderful evening for me."

"How much later are you gonna work?"

"Enh," Josh shrugged. "Till I feel like going to bed. Probably pretty late."

"Its already pretty late."

"Oh, you can go. You don't need to stay up with me. Go get some sleep."

"Yeah…"

"You look exhausted."

"Well—"

"And judging by the amount of reading you did, I'd say you didn't sleep much last night."

"I—"

"Get some sleep. We've got a bunch of outdoor rallies tomorrow. It's really fucking hot outside. I don't you—"

"I'm fine."

"You're not taking care of yourself."

"Says Mr. I'm Going to Stay Up All Night Reading."

Josh looked at her pleadingly. "Please."

Donna sighed and turned toward the door. "We start at 7 tomorrow. Another breakfast."

Josh nodded. "G'night."

He settled back in the chair, and put his feet up on the table, pulling a briefing book onto his lap. Donna had looked so melancholy. He hated to see her like that. Usually, she was bursting with optimism, and he had come to adore that. Looking at the blue note card that preceded this first article, Josh smiled. He wasn't usually this lazy about the reading. But he kind of loved that Donna enjoyed it so much. If it made her feel more important, he was going to let her baby him.

Josh got into his reading, and was startled when Donna came scurrying back into the room a minute later.

"I just walked in on—"

"No!"

Donna was blushing furiously. "Yes."

"With who?"

"Chris, from the Texas DNC office."

"Is that the one CJ and Margaret have been calling hot Chris?"

"Yeah."

Josh cracked up. "Apparently Ginger beat them to the punch."

"I am so mortified."

"Why are you mortified?" She should be mortified. There wasn't any kind of warning on the door, was there?"

"No."

"Then its her fault. When you have a roommate—"

"But still, I walked in, and they were…right in the middle."

Donna sat down and buried her head in her hands. That blush was driving Josh crazy again. He sat down beside her and patted her back, trying not to be so amused.

"How long till you think its safe?"

"I can't go back there tonight! I'll get some more reading done instead."

Donna reached for the filebox, but Josh grabbed her hand.

"You are getting some sleep tonight."

"But—"

"You are."

Donna glared at him. Josh picked up his stack of briefing books and stood. Donna didn't move. Was she being stubborn, or did she not realize that he was just going to take her back to his room?

"Come on."

"I'm not going back there."

Okay, she didn't realize. Good. "I know that. But you still need to sleep, so you're coming to my room."

"Am I now?"

"Donna…"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

She stood up and grabbed the filebox.

"No," Josh swiped it from her hand and put it back on the table. "You're sleeping. You're not reading."

"If I want to stay up—"

"But you don't. You're just being difficult. Come on."

Josh put his hand on the small of her back and guided her out of the room, silently thankful for Donna's roommate's indiscretions.

* * *

"It's really, really hot," Josh whined.

Donna nodded. "At least it's a casual day. A suit would be much hotter."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you have sunscreen on?"

"I don't need sunscreen."

"Everyone needs sunscreen."

They stood watching Governor Bartlet address the crowd.

Donna wiped the sweat from her face. "Do you still have that water?"

"About a sip left."

"Could I have it?"

Josh handed over the water bottle. "You're turning red."

"I know. I've put on sunscreen 3 times, and its just not working. The sun's too strong."

"Take my shirt. I've got a T-shirt on underneath."

"No, you can keep it."

Josh began to unbutton. "You need it more than I do." He wrapped the shirt around Donna's shoulders, and she stuck her arms in.

"Thanks."

The continued to watch the speech in silence.

"Would it be bad if I sat down here for a little while?"

"I don't think so, other people are sitting."

Donna sat on the grass. She drew her knees up to her chest, and lay her head on her arms. Josh squatted beside her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed to sit."

"Why did you need to sit?"

"Its hot out here."

"And?"

"And I was feeling a little unsteady—"

"Dizzy."

"Yes, a little dizzy."

"And now?"

"It helps to sit."

"You should go sit in the tent over there, in the shade. Have a water."

"I'm fine here."

"You're fine there because you're really feeling better, or you're fine there because you're afraid you'll pass out if you try to walk across the field to the tent?"

Donna turned away from Josh.

"Donna?"

"I don't know." It came out smaller than she would have liked.

"Come on. I'll help. You need to get out of this sun."

Josh grabbed Donna's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"Steady?"

"Somewhat."

"I've got you." Josh wrapped his arm around her waist, and they slowly made there way around the back of the crowd to the tent.

"Almost there."

"Good."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm still upright."

"Yeah."

They got to the tent, and Josh sat Donna down in a chair, in front of a box fan that someone had brought in. There were several other people, also bothered by the heat seeking refuge in the shade. Josh started to walk to the other side of the tent.

"Where are you going?"

"Cooler. I'm going to get you a nice cold drink. You should take my shirt off again."

Josh returned with a water for Donna to drink, a few wet napkins, and a few sodas, which he intended to use as ice packs. She hadn't moved since he left her, so he set about unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off her. He then wrapped a can of soda in the shirt, and held it to the back of Donna's neck with one hand. With the other, he raised the water in front of her.

"Drink this."

She took it from him, and struggled with the cap. Finally getting frustrated, she threw it to the ground.

"It's okay. It's okay," Josh retrieved the fallen bottle, and unscrewed the cap, holding it up to her mouth. Donna took a long sip. "You got it?"

Donna nodded, taking the water from him. Josh put the soda can back in position, and placed another one against her back.

"That helps."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He rubbed her arms with the wet napkin, and took another and wiped her face.

"There. That should really help cool you down, with the fan and all."

"Thanks," Donna leaned against him.

They sat in silence until the Governor finished his speech. Sam came trotting up.

"Some guy in the front passed out. CJ said she feels like she's going to. It's really hot, man. She okay?"

"Better now."

"The heat?"

"Yeah."

"Bus is just out in the parking lot. I'm going to go make sure CJ is okay."

"Good."

"I'm going to get Donna to the bus."

Sam jogged off.

"Hey," Josh called softly to Donna. "Donna?"

"Hmm?"

"How you doing?"

"Much better."

"How come you didn't answer?"

"I was drifting off a little."

"Sitting up?"

"Well, I was leaning…I sleep well…I just drifted off."

Josh smiled. "Let's get over to the bus. Then you can drift off again in the air conditioning."


	22. Chapter 22

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (22/30?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Does anyone remember who was Bartlet's Republican opponent in the first election? I can't seem to find it in the transcripts.

Donna sat on her bed, painting her toenails. Yellow. Despite have a salary now, Donna had no time to find a dress that made her feel as gorgeous as the one Mrs. Lyman had lent her.

The door opened, and Ginger came tumbling into the room, carrying several large bags.

"Shopping?"

"I needed a new dress. I've never been to anything like this. Have you?"

Donna nodded. "A few weeks ago, in New York."

"Do you get a new dress for all of them?"

"No, I didn't have time. And I really like the one I have."

"How does it go at these things? What do we do?"

"It depends. Margaret gets to fully enjoy them as a party, though sometimes I think Leo ends up regretting not making her work. She has a tendency for saying the wrong things to the wrong people."

"Oh."

"I work."

"That sucks."

"Its not as bad as it sounds. I keep Josh in line. He has a hard time behaving himself too."

"I get that impression. He scares me a little."

"Really?"

"He's just so loud and arrogant…he never scared you?"

"Never. I just give it right back. He gets snarky, I get snarky back. I put his attitude in place."

"That's good. Sam was saying that before you, Josh couldn't manage to keep a volunteer as an assistant for more than an afternoon."

"That's what I've heard too."

"I like Sam. He's nice. Toby scares me too, though."

"Yeah, Sam's great. Toby used to scare me, but I got used to him."

"How long did that take?"

Donna laughed. "It was, like, a month ago."

"And you've been on the campaign?—"

"Since February."

"Great."

"He'll warm up to you. That kind of has to happen before he becomes less scary."

Ginger laughed, and turned to face Donna. "Can I ask you a kind of weird favor?"

"Okay…"

"Now, I know I'm not in a great position to ask this, after what happened in Texas, but I, uh, was wondering….um…"

"You need the room tonight?"

"If its okay. Is it okay? I mean, you seem like you have somewhere else you can stay, or I wouldn't even be asking…the nights that you don't come back, and all…"

"Yeah," Donna smiled to herself. She'd been trying to keep those to a minimum, so that people weren't asking why she still spent the night in Josh's room on occasion.

"Is it okay?" Ginger asked hopefully.

"Yeah, its fine. I'll…uh, thanks for asking."

"Sorry I didn't before."

"Its okay."

"I was so embarrassed."

"So was I."

Ginger pulled her dress out of the bag. It was a rich blue color.

"That's pretty."

"Thanks. What's yours look like?"

"I should actually start hurrying up into it. Josh is going to be here any minute looking for the files on the people he has to schmooze with tonight."

Donna pulled her dress out of the closet.

"Wow. Where is that from?"

"Its…uh…an antique. A hand me down. Older than I am. But its gorgeous."

"It really is."

"Was it your mom's?"

"No…uh…actually, it was Josh's mom's."

"Really? How'd you come to borrow it?"

"It's a long story, but Leo made me go with Josh to visit his mom, because he didn't want Josh to drive…I wasn't going to go to a fundraiser because I didn't have a dress or money—"

"And she lent you a dress?"

"Yeah. She's really sweet."

Donna crossed into the bathroom and changed into her dress. When she emerged, Ginger was also in her dress.

"Can I ask you a question that you don't have to answer?"

Donna raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

"Where do you stay when you're not here?"

The way she asked, Donna was pretty sure that she knew. "You've heard Sam comment."

"Yeah."

"I stay with Josh. He took me in when I was making nothing, made sure I had a place to stay."

"Are you sleeping with him?"

There it was. The question it seemed everyone had.

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"People assume…no, we're not."

"It's not weird to share a room with your boss? I mean, I don't think I could share a room with Sam and not sleep with him."

Donna laughed. "It's not weird. I can't explain it. It just never has been. We've become good friends."

A persistent knock on the door ended the conversation abruptly.

"He arrives on cue."

"Josh?"

"Only Josh would continue to bang on the door till I open it."

Donna walked over to the door and flung it open.

"Took you long enough."

"Shut up."

"I let you have a whole half hour off to get ready—"

"Gee, aren't you generous."

"Do you have the files on the idiots I have to talk to tonight?"

Ginger cracked up.

"They are idiots."

"Come on," Donna tugged on his arm. "We'll go over them in the conference room, before heading to the ballroom, so Ginger can get ready in peace. See you downstairs."

They headed into the hallway.

"So that's Ginger."

"You've met Ginger."

"I could never remember which one she was."

"You've heard Sam talk about her. Good at what she does, but really brassy."

"Oh yeah. And you walked in on her fuck—"

"Right. Oh, I'm staying with you tonight."

"You are, are you?" he grinned. That delicious, dimpled grin.

"Yes, definitely."

"What makes you think I'm going to agree to that?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Did she actually ask you to give her the room tonight?"

"Yeah."

"After what happened in Texas?"

"Yeah. She asked very nicely, pointing out that sometimes I don't come home—"

"Oh."

"And asking if tonight could be one of those nights."

"Does she know you stay with me?"

"Yeah, Sam has a big mouth."

Josh nodded, and sat on the conference room table. "Let's see these files."

Donna handed them over and leaned against the table beside him.

"You have my mom's dress on again."

"Yeah."

"I thought women didn't wear dresses more than once."

"When they have no time, and not a lot of money they do. And when the dress is this beautiful."

Josh turned to look at her. "It is beautiful." He looked her up and down. There was no mistaking it.

Donna felt herself beginning to blush.

"It looks great on you, Donna."

"Thank you," she answered softly, looking at the ground.

He was still watching her, and the blush was intensifying. Josh reached up and pulled a stray hair out of her face. They were standing very close together. In the conference room. This was bad. After a moment, Josh seemed to catch onto how bad this could look, and turned back to the folders, but not before he pressed a kiss onto Donna's forehead. The touch was electric.

"So, Senator Beecher, the asshole who won't back our environmental plan is first on my hit list. What does he look like again? Donna?"

Donna snapped back to reality.

"Hmmm?"

Josh smiled. "What does Senator Beecher look like?"

"There's a picture of him in there from his website."

"Ah…fat and balding. These are the guys I like to drag you to talk to."

"Maybe I'll—"

"No, I think you'll stick with me all night. Now, next on Leo's list…Congresswoman Loy, more or less backs us. She's hot, isn't she?"

Donna smacked him. "Again, there's a picture in the file. I don't get to talk to hot businessmen—"

"Yup she's hot."

"But you get to talk to hot Congresswomen?"

"She's on Leo's list."

"But do you have to drag me to all of them?"

"I'm not going to hit on her…much. I'm just saying that her being hot is her main identifying characteristic. I have to be able to pick these people out of the crowd."

"Yeah, yeah."

"We should head down. Come on, after about an hour of this god awful schmoozing we can get drunk."

Donna laughed. "But not too drunk. We don't want you embarrassing the campaign."

"Me?" She jumped out of the way of his playful swat.

"Yes, you."

"I can hold my liquor."

"You cannot—"

"The last time I was drunk I could function perfectly—"

"The last time you were drunk we—" Almost kissed, she finished the sentence silently.

"But there were no memory gaps."

"No?"

"None."

He gave her a look that told her he had known exactly what she meant.


	23. Chapter 23

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (23/30?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: It seems that Bartlet's Republican opponent in the first election was never named. Wikipedia doesn't have it either. I'm going to make it up when I need to use it.

"Excuse us, Congressman."

"What was that?" Donna asked, as Josh led her away from the good-looking, young congressman from California.

"I need you over here."

"You do not. You've been keeping your seat warm for the last half hour."

"And you've been chatting up—"

"I have not! I've been talking to Congressman Janis for—"

"Far too long."

"Josh!"

"What?"

"Its none of your business who I talk to."

"It is when it affects the campaign."

"He backs the Governor completely, how—"

"We're still at a fundraiser, and I—"

"It's none of your business and you know it."

Donna stormed away. Josh watched her go, and shook his head. She still looked gorgeous, even when she was mad at him.

"What did you do?"

"Hello to you too Sam."

"Well?"

"She's pissed off at me."

"And I repeat my first question, what did you do?"

"I pulled her away from a conversation she was having with Congressman Janis."

"Good call."

"Really? I'd have thought you'd side with her, the way you attacked me."

"He gets around. He was hitting on Margaret earlier. Then CJ. Then apparently Donna. All while I know for a fact that he's already made plans to hook up with Ginger tonight. Though I don't know how she—oh, is Donna staying with you tonight?"

"She was going to, but now, who knows?"

"She'll stop being pissed when you explain—"

"Somehow I don't think it will work if I am the one to explain what you just told me."

"You want me to?"

"That would be nice."

"So, why should I encourage you bunking with your assistant?"

"Because otherwise, your assistant is going to be pissed at you for ruining her hook up."

"Donna would sooner sleep on the bus or in the conference room than walk in on Ginger again, and you know it."

"Yeah…but I don't want her to do that. I need my assistant well rested tomorrow. We're flying up to Seattle for the prep for the first debate."

"Okay, okay. But you owe me."

"Uh huh. I'm heading upstairs. Tell her where I went."

"Will do." Sam crossed the room to the wine bar, where Donna stood. "Hey there."

"Hi."

"You look good tonight."

"Thank you, Sam."

"You must get a lot of compliments in that dress."

"Some. You. Congressman Janis."

"Josh?"

"Yeah, Josh," she smiled softly to herself. "He was very sweet about my dress earlier."

"That's good."

"But now he's being a jackass."

"He's just looking out for you."

"He's…I don't know…I can't explain it."

"Donna, he may usually be a jackass about this, but this time his instinct was right on. He didn't know it at the time, of course, but it was."

"What do you mean?"

Sam spun her to face the dance floor. "Look at the Congressman."

"Kayla, from advance."

"Right. And he's been working his way through our campaign staff."

"Oh."

"And, uh, he's…the guy that Ginger's hooking up with tonight."

"What?"

"She met him last night, at a bar, and they…hit it off."

"So, he hits it off with everyone?"

"Apparently."

"Dammit! Why do I have such bad luck? I was having a good night—and now I have to sleep on the bus!"

She grabbed another glass of wine from the table.

"I think you've had enough."

"You sound like Josh."

"He's not holding a grudge."

"So he says."

"Donna."

"I stormed away from him! I can't go knock on his door, and be like, guess what, I'm staying with you anyways."

"Yes, you can."

"You're encouraging me to spend the night with Josh?"

"I'd rather that than you spend the night on the bus or in the conference room. And I know you won't interrupt Ginger."

"Why didn't he come after me?"

"Because you would have snapped at him again if he told you what I just did."

"Yeah…"

"I told him I'd talk to you."

"I feel like a fool."

"You didn't realize that you were being played. He didn't either, but that's neither here nor there. Go up there."

She looked at him. "Thanks, Sam."

Josh padded across the room to open the door. Donna stood on the other side, a little more disheveled than when he'd last seen her.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Donna crossed over to Josh's suitcase, pulled out a T-shirt and pair of boxer and walked over to the bathroom. Josh flopped down on the bed, waiting for her to return. Finally, Donna emerged, and sat down on her side of the bed. Josh lay back against the pillow.

"What's on the morning schedule?"

"Not much. You have a staff meeting at 8:30, then we have an 11am flight."

"Great."

Donna curled into the blanket and turned on her side, away from Josh.

"You still mad at me?"

"I'm mad at myself."

"You didn't know."

"Why can't I find a nice guy?" She turned to face him.

"You don't have time right now. You shouldn't be looking now."

"Ginger manages to—"

"Hook up indiscriminately. You're better than that."

"She's getting some."

"You have standards."

"You're getting some."

"I, uh, have lower standards."

"Why can't I have lower standards?"

Josh laughed. "I haven't slept with Mandy since we were in Boston."

"Really?"

"I spend a week having to deal with her bullshit for every orgasm."

"Not worth it?"

"No, its really not."

"Campaigns are not for anything meaningful."

"Definitely not."

"There are lots of peculiar hook ups, but nothing else."

"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows?"

"Indeed."

"Just look at us."

"Yeah…"

"I mean, its not the same as what we were talking about, but this, this is not normal."

"No, I guess not. Do you like having your own room?"

"You know I don't. And its not my own room. Now I have a roommate."

"You don't like Ginger?"

"I do. But…I don't know."

"I prefer having a roommate."

Donna looked up at him. "Really?"

"You make sure I go to sleep. Even when you try to make sure I go to sleep, when you go back to your room—"

"You don't—"

"And even when I do, I can't sleep."

"Me either."

"Should we try to do this less, to get used to sleeping alone?"

Donna shrugged. "Do you want to?"

"Not especially. I kind of treasure my sleep right now."

"Yeah."

"Tired?"

"Mmmhmm."

Josh reached over and clicked off his light. He curled behind Donna, and tentatively wrapped his arm around her waist.

She curled closer to him. "Sleep is good."

"Yeah…it is."


	24. Chapter 24

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (24/30?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: 30 parts? Maybe not. I want to end on a nice round number, but I don't think I'll get it there in time. We'll see.

"What do you mean you've voted since you were 11?—"

"I—"

"—its not possible."

"My family is not very, uh, civics minded. I used to go with my mom—"

"Oh geez."

"And she'd vote for President, and Governor, mayor, etc, you know?"

"Right. And?"

"Then we'd get to something like the School Board. And mom would say 'I don't know any of these people. Donnatella, pick three names for mommy'."

"And I assume you did?"

"I did."

"I guess that does count as voting at 11."

"I'm not done."

"Oh dear."

"We were about to leave, and I noticed that she hadn't answered the stuff at the bottom, the referendums. It was one of those ones where you flick the little levers, then throw the big one outside the little booth when you're done—"

"And?"

"You're impatient."

"So you notice she didn't vote on the referendums. What then?"

"I pointed it out to her, an—"

"And?"

"Will you let me tell my story?"

"Continue."

"And mom goes, 'I can't bend down to read those, my back will kill me. But if you want to bend down and read them, go ahead'."

"So you read them to her?"

"Not exactly. I asked her if she wanted me to, and she said no, she didn't really care—"

Josh scoffed.

"—that much, that I could vote on them."

"So you did."

"Yup."

"So you voted for the first time at 11, and then when?"

"13. Then 15, and 17, and finally as myself when I was 19."

"Did you vote in the midterms that year?"

"Of course I did. I take voting very seriously."

"But not seriously enough to wait until you were of age to do it?"

"Is that worse than my parents leaving things blank?"

"I guess not."

"Have your parents been good voters?"

"Dad always was. Mom only voted in presidential years until I started working in Congrerss, then she voted in the midterms because I made her."

"I guess looking back I should be surprised my parents voted in the midterms, but we elected the mayor every 2 years, and that was the race they really cared about."

"Only the local stuff?"

"Yeah. Except the school board…no one ever knew who the hell the people running were."

"That's the sign of a poor campaign."

"I think a lot of people only vote in presidential years."

"Unfortunately, there's a lot of data to back that up."

"And even then they don't really care."

"Yeah."

"Do you think these Rock the Vote things actually help?"

"Help the general problem, no?"

"But they do help, because Governor Bartlet is handsome, and that's what matters at these?"

"That's a good way to put it."

"I guess whatever works."

"It shouldn't be that way, but…I don't know."

"What?"

"I really wish that more people cared. Really cared. About these issues that the whole country has to face. But they don't. People would rather know the answer to 'boxers or briefs?' than hear the Governor's health care plan."

"But that's not everyone.

"No, I guess not. But among the crowd we're trying to hit with this rally, yeah."

"My demographic."

"Yeah. I wished more people cared about it as much as you do."

Donna smiled. "Sam's working on a great speech for this. I heard him trying out bits of it on some of the volunteers earlier."

"Yeah?"

"He's trying to make policy sexy."

"Sexy policy," Josh laughed. "We need some sexy policy for the next debate, so we don't get our asses kicked again."

"Maguire didn't kick our ass."

"Yes, he did. He turned that question around in a way that Bartlet was completely unprepared for. Which is why I'm spending this bus trip trying to poke holes in all of our positions. We cannot let that happen again."

"Finding anything?"

"No. I'm too close to it. When you help draft it originally, you get stuck in a rut. It's driving me crazy. I want us to explore all the options, you know?"

"I know."

"Toby doesn't get it. He thinks we've poked all the holes that we can."

"You don't?"

"Maguire found one. We thought we'd prepared for every possibility. We hadn't. Why doesn't anyone think that there could be more? Why don't you?"

Josh sat back against his seat, and rubbed his eyes.

"I do think that there could be more. And I hope that we find them first, and prepare responses. But I think you've hit the wall tonight—"

"I haven't—"

"You're not going to find anymore tonight. You need to sleep—"

"We're on the fucking bus!"

"Shhh! Everyone else is asleep."

"You know I—"

"Hate the bus, yes."

"I need to work on this. Its going to drive me crazy."

"Going to?"

"Donna, I'm not in the mood for—"

"Sorry."

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere in Colorado?"

"Yeah?"

"I think so. We'll be in Denver by the morning."

"I wish we didn't have to drive so much."

"Campaign's tight on money, you know that."

"Yeah."

"Margaret was saying that they might end up tripling some of us assistants up if things get really tight."

"Then you can stay with me."

"Is that your solution to everything?"

"Ginger appreciates my generosity."

"She's taking advantage now."

"She makes friends easily, huh?"

"Apparently."

"Oh, you don't hate being forced into my room."

"Josh."

"You don't, right?"

"No, I don't. You know that. I just hate that she just assumes I'll give her the room."

"You should just stay with me again."

"I stay with you more than I stay with her."

"Right. So I'm saying that you should just being her roommate, and just pretend to be."

"Pretend to be?"

"Set up a deal with Ginger, that she can have the room exclusively, and she doesn't say—"

"CJ will kill me if she finds that out."

"No…"

"She will, Josh."

"She was patient before because I didn't really have another safe option. Now…"

"You have an inconsiderate roommate."

"I think CJ would prefer that I have an inconsiderate roommate to having my boss for a roommate."

"Well, in having an inconsiderate roommate, it causes you to have your boss for a roommate sometimes."

"True."

"So, it'll just be a little more frequent. Again."

"Why do you care so much?"

Josh shrugged. "We've been over this. Sleep is good."

"It is."

"And you're miserable after you spend the night in your own room."

"So are you."

"So?"

"If we keep it quiet—"

"Of course."

"People talk as it is."

"Quiet it is."

"Now, you need to find a way to sleep on this bus."

"That way you got me to sleep before was silly."

"It worked."

"We don't have big coats anymore. Too warm."

"Just put your damn head on my lap."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you need to lay down?"

"I can sleep sitting up on the bus. You'll get 4 hours if you do it now. Head down."

"Thanks," Josh leaned in and kissed her cheek, lingering a moment before settling . "You take good care of me."

Donna ran her hand through his hair, smiling. "I do, don't I."


	25. Chapter 25

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (25/30?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. Our friends have bad mouths when they've been drinking.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I got it in today after all. Well, I guess its technically tomorrow, but just barely.

"What a fucking day!" CJ flopped down in the chair besides Donna.

"Tell me about it."

"Let's go get drunk. I heard a bunch of people are going to one of the pubs down the street."

"Can't. I've got a lot to do."

"Come on, Donna. Have fun for a night."

"We were in meetings all day, dealing with planning this last debate, so everything else we were supposed to be doing got shoved aside."

"One night. Make the asshole let you go early for once."

"Have you already started drinking?"

"Sam and I cracked open a bottle of wine as soon as the Governor left for the night."

"Was it that rough a day?"

"From stupid jokes, to spilling drinks, it was just one of those days where we looked like idiots."

"Sounds like I'm glad I missed the rallies today."

"For nit-picking about debate preparations?"

"It wasn't that bad. Maguire's staff is kind of ridiculous about some of this stuff. Especially after Governor Bartlet tore into his energy policy in the last debate. They want to make damn sure that we have as little opportunity as possible to do it again."

"Of course."

"Which of course is exactly what we want to do, after seeking out all opportunities to do so after the disaster of the first debate."

"Josh really didn't give up trying to poke holes in our stuff."

"He found a bunch."

"I know. Is going to do it again?"

"It was a lot of work."

"Do you two ever sleep?"

"A few hours a night."

"It's all well and good for him to work all night, but he should let you go."

"I don't mind."

"No, of course you don't. Samuel! Bring that bottle in here."

"Hey there ladies. Coming to the pub?"

"I am. This one claims she has to work."

"I do."

"We can kidnap you."

"Sam!"

"We could."

"You should come to the bar with us."

"I have a ton of work to do."

"When was the last time you stopped working before 1am?"

"Uh…"

CJ snorted. "Usually its later too, isn't?"

"Usually its closer to 2 or 3."

"Your roommate must love you."

"I'm sure Ginger appreciates knowing that Donna isn't going to be home until late," Sam grinned.

"Yeah, she does."

"Oh yeah?" CJ asked.

"Did you not hear how Donna walked in on Ginger when we were in Texas?"

"Walked in on?"

"You know what I mean."

"Oh. So do you guys have a system now?"

"Yeah, its called she's hardly ever there."

"Right…" Donna smiled, nervously. That was essentially the system…though it was more that she was never there.

"Does it happen every night? Is she that popular?" CJ asked.

"I wouldn't know."

"Cause she's never there," Sam laughed, pouring wine for both the women.

"Got it. More than that."

"We're about to go to the bar."

"I said more than that."

"You can have mine, CJ. I have to finish this."

"No," Sam said. "You are drinking that, and we are kidnapping you. Before Josh gets back."

"He'll kill me if I leave without tell—"

"We'll leave a ransom note."

Josh bounced back into the war room after meeting with Leo. He was in a good mood after the debate preparations. He loved shoving their success in the other campaign's face.

"Donna!"

Josh threw a bunch of papers down on the desk, and fished through his filebox for the reports on social security. This was the issue of the week for him and Donna. Where the hell was she?

"DONNA!"

Josh sat down in his usual chair, and pushed the files he's thrown on the table aside. Underneath them was a messily written note, scribbled on the back of the morning memo.

Josh,

We've kidnapped Donna. If you want her back, you must come to Muldowney's. We'll be there. We make no guarantees of her condition.

Your kidnappers,

Sam & CJ

It was sort of funny, but Josh didn't have time for that. He had planned on them working on all of the reading on social security till 3am. Sighing, he stood up, and left the room.

"Have another!" CJ yelled. "One more for all of us, Sam!"

"Oh, I'm buying this round am I?"

"Indeed."

"I don't need another. I should be getting back."

"You, are our captive. You leave when we say so, right Sam?"

"Or when she's re-kidnapped. Look who just showed up."

"Get him a drink too."

"Joshua!"

"CJ"

"How are you this fine evening?"

"I was great. Until I found you'd kidnapped my assistant."

"Josh. This girl needs to have some fun. You need to let her go out and have some. Now sit down and drink."

"I am retrieving my assistant."

"Sit the fuck down. Sam is buying another round of drinks, for you as well, and you will drink it."

"I don't have time, CJ."

"Read in the morning. Or go back to your room and read all night. But don't force her to stay in the war room all night."

"We don't read in the war room."

Sam returned with beers for them all. "Where do you read?"

"The…my room. Reading's uncomfortable in the war room."

"So you hide your assistant away in your room until 1am? You know that's not much better looking than when she was spending the night with you."

"CJ…" It looked exactly the same, because it was exactly the same.

"Josh, be careful. Read in common rooms."

"CJ, if I'm reading until the middle of the night," Donna began, "I want to be comfortable."

"My only concern is how things look. Be careful."

"Good night, Ginger!" Sam called.

Ginger waved at them, as she walked by with a handsome man.

"I wish I had that kind of luck," CJ sighed. "Don't you, Donna?"

"Not my style."

"He was certainly mine. I'd take that any day."

"Or at least any day you've had half a bottle of wine and four beers." Sam joked.

"Shut up Samuel. Let's play some pool."

"You want to lose again?"

"I'm going to kick your—"

"Are we playing teams?"

"No, you guys go ahead," Josh answered. Sam looked to Donna, who nodded.

"You're going to escape while we're gone."

"We'll be here when you get back."

"Well, I'm off to beat CJ."

Josh leaned back against the booth, and took a large sip of his beer.

"This wasn't my idea."

"I know."

"They forced me."

"I saw the note."

"I was actually looking forward to reading tonight."

"Sure you were."

"No, really. We'd found our new topic to push, and then we spent the whole day in meetings."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Its okay."

"I just wanted you there because you retain data like no one else."

Donna smiled.

"And you proved valuable."

"Yeah?"

"When you spouted that data about the ratings for the debates from the last election…that was incredible."

"Really?"

"And we got our way because of it."

"Good. Was Leo pleased with our results?"

"Very."

"You want to head back and read?"

"Nah. Let's drink."

"We really missed quite a day. CJ and Sam started drinking the second they got back to the hotel."

"I heard about spilling the coffee on the mayor."

"And there were stupid jokes."

"Oh, no."

"CJ had quite an eventful day."

"Its all we're going to hear about tomorrow too I bet"

CJ plopped into the booth beside them.

"More drinks are coming, courtesy of Sam, because I won."

"You won?" Donna laughed.

"Let me guess," Josh grinned. "Sam sunk the white ball."

"I still won."

Josh nodded, and gulped down the rest of his beer.

"Only one of mine had gone in, and he had the black one left…"

"The black one?" Josh snarked. "Ow!"

Donna pinched his thigh. He caught her hand and held it captive in his.

"Yes, it was the black one…the 8. There was the black one and the white one, and the white one ended up in the hole."

Donna laughed.

Sam returned to the table with a new round.

"Did she tell you that I sunk the only ball of hers that went in?"

"No!" Josh laughed.

"Oh yes. I sunk every ball that went in."

"Including the white one!"

"Yes, the white one."

Donna smiled as CJ and Sam went back and forth. Josh was playing with her captive hand. She was glad that their tablemates were too drunk to notice, because she didn't want to let go.


	26. Chapter 26

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (26/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. Our friends have bad mouths when they've been drinking.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: Real life's been a bit busy…

"How do we know when this game is over?" CJ slurred.

"I think it's when they stop handing us the darts," Donna giggled.

CJ doubled over laughing. "What are they doing now?"

Josh and Sam stood by the dartboard, haggling over Sam's last throw.

"It's 20."

"It's definitely 1."

"It's 20."

"No, it isn't. It's over the line."

"You're just saying that because you haven't closed 20 yet."

"No, I'm saying that because it plainly obvious."

"CJ! Come here! What number is that dart in?"

"You can't ask your own teammate. Donna!"

"She doesn't understand the game anyways. She just throws them when I tell her to.

Both women came up to the men.

"I want you both to look at the board silently, and write on this napkin which number you think it is."

"Aren't you taking this a little far, Josh?"

"We are very close to winning. We have more points than you, and we just need to close 20."

CJ scribbled on the napkin, flipped it over, and passed it to Donna. She made her assessment and passed it back to Josh.

"Ha! 1 and 1. You lose."

"I—"

"This throw, Sam."

"Right."

"Who's up?"

"Donna."

Josh held out the darts, as Donna stepped up to the line. "We need a 20."

"You need her to hit the board this time," Sam snickered.

"I can usually hit the board! I'm just a little drunk."

"Lean as far forward as you can…without tipping over…right, like this, and hold out your arm, nice and stead—"

"No fair holding her up."

"You guide CJ."

"I don't visibly hold her up. Drunken toppling over is part of the challenge."

"You couldn't hold CJ up."

"Excuse me!"

"CJ, I didn't mean it like that." Josh turned to CJ.

"You better not have, or—" CJ threw a piece of ice at him. She'd moved on from beer to a whiskey on this last round.

Josh laughed, and reached back out for Donna, stumbling a bit.

"Okay, I guess you're just as drunk as she is…you're not actually holding her up, just holding her."

Josh laughed, and pulled Donna closer.

"Can I throw now?" she pouted.

"Go ahead."

Donna threw the first dart. It hit, but in the 4. She threw again. It struck the corkboard wall above the dartboard.

"Oops!" she giggled.

"Concentrate."

Donna threw the last one, and it bounced off the metal of the board and camp flying back at them.

"Come on, CJ, we can do this!" Sam cheered, as Josh led a hysterically laughing Donna away from the line.

CJ threw the first one and it fell short of the dartboard. The second hit the 15."

"All right, CJ! Fifteen more points. We've almost caught them."

The third one missed completely.

"Sorry, Samuel." She sat down at the table and put her head down.

Josh grabbed the darts. "Let's end this game."

He threw. 20.

"Who's the man?"

"Fine, fine, you win," Sam sighed.

"We won?" Donna asked, jumping to her feet.

"We did!" Josh picked her up and spun her.

"CJ, Ceeeejaaaaay…come on…head off the table, let's go."

"Did we win?"

"No, we didn't."

"Awww."

Slowly she stood up and Sam led her out of the bar. Josh and Donna were a couple of paces ahead, swinging their linked hands.

"Do you guys have any idea what room she's in?"

"I am in 405!"

"Do you have any idea where your key is?"

"Um…"

"We'll get you a new one at the desk. G'night!" Sam called.

Josh and Donna were oblivious, in their own little world. They walked along, holding hands.

"It's nice tonight, for October," Donna sighed.

"You wanna stay outside for a minute?"

"Mmm,"

She leaned back against his chest. Damn, that felt good. He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Is the world spinning?"

"Seems that way, huh?"

"I can't remember the last time I had that much to drink."

"Me either. Its going to be a rough morning on the bus."

"Mmmhmm…hung over bus trip. And meetings," Donna sprung away from Josh. "Oh shit, you need to make sure that you drink some water and take some Tylenol before you go to sleep. You have that big meeting tomorrow."

"I'll be fine." They began to walk up to their room.

"Josh! You've had way more than your system can handle. You have! I lost count, because—"

"Because you lost track of how many you had too."

"Sam just kept getting rounds."

"Yeah."

Josh toyed with her hand, as she fished through her pocket for the door key. She stuck it in. Red light. She tried again. Red.

"Now you can't do it?"

"You're distracting me."

"You want me to stop?"

Donna looked intently at Josh for a moment. "Just long enough for me to get the door open."

"I think I can handle that."

Donna tried the key again, and they barreled into the room.

"Okay, okay, that was a little too fast. Spinning again." Donna paused, to regain her balance.

Josh grabbed her waist, pulling him towards her to keep her on her feet, but he pulled too hard, and they tumbled into the wall.

"You okay?"

Donna nodded. She was now pressed against the wall. Josh showed no signs of moving.

"You?"

"Mmm," His breathing was heavy. "You were gonna fall."

"You caught me."

"I'll always catch you."

"You're sweet when you're drunk."

"Only when I'm drunk?"

"Uh huh. Though you're in luck. I probably won't remember that you were so sweet."

"No?" His face was very close.

"No…"

She closed the distance between them, and in an instant their lips met. It wasn't clear who started the kiss, but it was happening. Josh pressed Donna harder against the wall, trying to get as close to her as possible. She ran her hands through his hair, up his back, pretty much letting them roam everywhere. Never breaking contact, she gradually backed him toward the bed. It approached quicker than she realized, and he fell backwards, pulling her with him. They landed in a heap on the bed, laughing hysterically.

"That was smooth."

"You didn't see it coming either!"

"I was moving backwards."

"I was distracted."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Josh rolled her onto her back, and resumed the kiss. It was intensifying, getting more frantic, and…Josh's cell phone rang.

"Your phone."

Josh kissed down the side of her neck.

"Your phone, Josh."

"It can wait," he whispered, kissing his way up the other side of her neck.

"Josh, its late…if someone's calling it must be important."

Josh sighed and broke contact.

"Hello?"

"Josh, its Leo."

"Hey, Leo!"

"Are you drunk?"

"I—"

"How drunk are you?"

"I've had a bit to drink…"

Donna giggled, and clasped her hands over her mouth remembering that she wasn't supposed to be there.

"I see. Tomorrow. I have some meetings with possible donors. You're going to have to take the meeting with the AARP."

"No problem."

"Let me stress that this is an important meeting."

"Leo, I'll be fine."

"Do you have a pen?"

"A pe—?"

"To write this information down with."

"Uh, yeah, hold on."

Josh climbed off of Donna, and crawled over to the bedside table. There was the hotel stationary, and a pen.

"Go ahead."

"It's here, in the 3rd floor conference room, at 1:00pm. The guy you'll want to really make feel comfortable is Ronny Ulrich."

"Got it."

"Have Donna grab my info files from Margaret in the morning. I'll be going ahead to St. Louis, and I'll be in and out of these damn donor meetings right up until the debate on Friday."

"Will do."

"And get some sleep."

"I will. I will."

"All right. G'night."

"Night, Leo."

Josh clicked the end button and tossed his phone on the bedside table. He turned back to Donna. She was laying on her side, sound asleep. He smiled softly and kissed her forehead. Struggling to his feet, Josh pulled her shoes off, and threw the blanket over her. He stripped down to his T-shirt and boxers and crawled in behind her, pulling her close to him. Oh well. This would have to do for now. It was probably all he was capable of in his state anyways, he sighed. He inhaled deeply into her hair, and fell asleep.


	27. Chapter 27

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (27/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13. Our friends have bad mouths when they've been drinking.  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I'd intended to have a new chapter yesterday…but then I got distracted by the fantasy season 8…

Donna's eyes blinked open and she groaned. It felt like there was someone sitting on her head, and they'd stuffed cotton into her mouth. Her whole body felt heavy. What the hell had she been drinking last night? Whatever it was, she must have drunk an awful lot of it. Vaguely, it occurred to her that the memory lapse should concern her, but at the moment she was too busy feeling miserable.

Painfully, she raised her head a bit. Ah, the weight on her torso was identified. Josh was laying across her. His head was on her stomach, and one of his legs was wrapped around hers. They had a knack for ending up completely tangled. Donna patted Josh's head. If she felt this miserable, then he was going to wake up completely useless.

The phone rang. To Donna it sounded a little more shrill than usual. It rang again. She couldn't answer it. It was almost sure to be the wake up call, but there was still a 5 chance it could be someone on the campaign.

"Wake up!"

Josh growled, and nuzzled his head further against her stomach. Damn, that felt nice.

"Josh! Wake up!"

He moaned.

"Answer the phone."

"Wake up call. You get it."

"It could be—"

"Yeah…"

Josh groped blindly for the phone. Donna guided it into his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Good morning."

"You're chipper," Josh grumbled, as he mouthed 'Leo' to Donna. "What's up?"

"Just calling to make sure that you get your ass to the bus, and to your meeting this morning, so that you can get your ass to my meeting on time."

"What time is it?"

"6:30."

"Wake up call was set for 6:45…I think."

"And that's why I'm calling."

"I'm up…I'm up."

"And you'll be presentable?"

"I'll take a shower and I'll be fine."

"Good. Don't forget to get those files from Margaret. She's already up."

"Will do. I'll send Donna in a bit."

"Call me after the meeting, let me know how it went."

"Ay, ay. Bye Leo."

Josh dropped the phone out of his hand, not bothering to hang it up.

"I feel like I'm going to die."

Donna grabbed the handset, and put it on the cradle.

"You're not going to die."

"I think I'm still drunk."

"You wouldn't be hurting yet if you were still drunk."

"Ugh…" Josh groaned.

"You should take an aspirin now, and drink a glass of water."

"I don't want to move."

Donna smiled. His head was still nestled against her stomach. It had ceased to be weird weeks ago.

"I know you don't want to move, I don't especially want to move either, but you'll be thankful for it later."

"What the hell did we do last night?"

"Apparently, we drank an awful lot."

"How much did I have to drink?"

"Josh, I don't even remember how much I had to drink."

"Really?"

"Not a clue. Sam kept buying, I think. I'm a little fuzzy."

"I bet you're adorable when you're drunk."

"I don't get that drunk that often."

"It's a shame I missed it."

"You were there."

"But I wasn't there."

Donna laughed. "Neither was I really. I have no idea if I was adorable or not. CJ and Sam kidnapped me…and then it gets blurry.

"Yeah…I think we beat them at darts."

"Did we? God, I don't do this. I don't drink this much. I don't lose evenings."

"Usually you have to buy your own."

"Very true."

"Geez, I even went to sleep with my clothes on."

"I managed to throw mine on the floor."

Donna laughed.

"We should get up."

"And get on the bus."

"Ugh…I'm going to end up getting sick this morning, I can tell already."

"You can handle it. It's only an hour to Phoenix."

"Why didn't we just drive overnight?"

"We're not staying overnight in Phoenix tonight. We're flying on to St. Louis. It too late an evening to drive last night, and check in another hotel in the middle of the night. So we stayed here."

"And drive far, far too early."

The phone rang again.

"Now, that's the wake up call."

Donna passed the phone too Josh. "Hello?"

"This is your 6:45am wake up call."

He passed the phone back to her and rested his chin on her stomach. "I suppose we should really get up now."

"Do you want me to get ready first so I can go track down those files from Margaret?"

"Nah, I need to check my email…and I'm not going to want to get up anymore in fifteen minutes than I do now."

Slowly, Josh raised himself off of Donna.

"Water and Tylenol!" Donna called, as he trudged to the bathroom.

He turned and grinned at her. "I will."

Donna smiled. She loved those little moments. They still made her heart flutter a little. A really vivid dream was playing in her head. She closed her eyes and replayed the image of Josh kissing her up against the wall. It was a shame it was a dream, but it was a particularly nice one to remember.

"Donna, where is the Tylenol?" Josh came padding out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel.

Donna's eyes opened wide. She'd seen him in a towel before, but it never ceased to make her flush, especially after the memory of the kiss dream."

"Donna?"

"Huh?"

"The Tylenol?"

"In my bag."

"Do I have permission to grab it?"

"Uh, yeah, there's nothing in there for you to be afraid of."

"I'm just asking…I ask…I know better than to go in a woman's purse without permission."

"Did you learn that the hard way?"

"Did I ever."

Donna laughed, and pulled some clothes out of her suitcase.

"How many should I take?"

"Two. You don't want to make your stomach angrier."

Josh swallowed the pills, and lay back on the bed.

"If you're still in that position when I'm done, I'm going to kick your ass."

"I'm moving…" Josh smiled.

He was tempted to continue to lay there just so she would kick his ass. Okay, no, that was a bad idea. If he let that happen, they'd never make the bus. His control was diminishing exponentially, and he needed to try really hard not to put them into that situation, because he knew what would happen. And it wasn't that he thought that Donna would be unwilling, rather she'd be just as willing as he was, but they just couldn't. Could they?

As he gradually became more coherent, it began to worry him that neither he nor Donna could remember the previous evening. But she was fully dressed when they woke up, and he was no more undressed than usual.

Deciding not to tempt fate, Josh stood up and retrieved a suit from his luggage. He'd just finished dressing when Donna came out of the bathroom, her hair still wet.

"I just need to put on my shoes—"

"And dry your hair."

"I'm just putting it in a ponytail. A little too woozy to stand up and dry it."

Donna finished with her hair, and sat on the bed to put on her shoes. Josh came around to her side of the bed, and offered out two pills and the water glass.

"You need this too."

"Thank you," Donna smiled. "You can be sweet when you try."

"Or I'm hungover."

Donna laughed. "You could do it if you were sober too, if you tried."

"You say I don't try…I could try."

"Then try," Donna smiled coyly.

"Maybe I will," Josh grinned, bearing the dimples. Anything for her to smile like that.


	28. Chapter 28

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (28/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: hehe…you know you've watched too much West Wing when, vacationing in DC you remark "There's got to be an easy way to get to Georgetown on foot, Josh walks home all the time."

"Where's the thing?"

"What thing?"

"The thing I had in my hand a minute—"

"What kind of thing?"

"It was a file. The file from the meeting that that assh—"

"Here. You handed it to me to cull data from."

"I swear I had it in my hand a second ago."

"You did. Until which time you put it in my hand and said that I should do index cards."

"I need it."

"The index cards aren't done yet."

"I need it now."

"The whole thing, or a specific memo?"

"The one the guy was being a prick about—"

"Josh!"

"He was."

"He was just expressing his concern."

"Yeah, his concern isn't going to make a huge amount of difference 4 days before the election—one day before the debate he wants his data to have some impact on—"

"Are we changing an answer?"

"I hope not…"

"But?"

"But after our meeting, that asshole was displeased with my attitude apparently—"

"Your attitude? You were very well behaved."

"But indifferent to his agenda."

"Is Leo pissed?"

"Not with me. But Leo's pissed, because he agreed to meet with the asshole late in the process, and I took the meeting, so he still got meet with a senior Bartlet for America representative, and the guy goes around us after the meeting, and calls the Governor directly."

"And?"

"And of course, the guy's got a plight of the type the Governor loves to hear—you heard it—and now the Governor wants us to re-examine the Social Security answer, with less than 24 hours until the last debate."

"Is that what that little pow-wow was about?"

"Yeah. Governor wants us to look over the new data, if you can call it that, and meet with him in an hour, for the last hour of the flight."

"I can sort it by priority fast, if you want."

"That would be great. Hard data, you take, do note cards, make copies for all of the senior staff. Get it to Mrs. Landingham, for the Governor, and to Toby ASAP. I'm going to try to read this dense piece of garbage."

"This shouldn't take long, let me know if you want me to take anything else."

Josh settled back in his chair, and Donna pulled down her tray table, setting out her notecards, pens and sharpies. They worked in silence for a while.

"Do you want to look this over before I reproduce it?"

Josh nodded, and Donna handed the small stack of cards over.

"I tried to make it as concise as possible, because of time—"

"And no one really wants to do this."

"Right."

Josh sighed. "All this projections of when they think Social Security is going to run out…they're nothing new. Our plan addresses this, without the fear-mongering."

"More data, less scenario?"

"Yeah…cut the 'if this, then this' 'if this, then this' card. Just hard data—"

"Well, that is—"

"Just less. The number of people we have on Social Security now, the number of people we had on Social Security when it started, the number in 'x' number of years—I don't know what number it uses for a reference—"

"Ten, then 20, then 50."

"Stick to 10 or 20."

"Yeah?"

"The Governor's a smart man. He's a Nobel laureate in economics for God's sake. He knows what these facts mean. He knew what they meant in February, and he knows what they mean now, and they haven't changed. This is a waste of time!"

Josh threw the index cards at the ground, and put his head down on his hands. Donna reached out and rubbed his neck. "You guys'll show him what he wants to see, he might add a little something—"

"There's no room in that answer to add anything. Not without taking something out. Toby's having a conniption."

"Can I pass on the cards, sans the one you nixed?"

Josh nodded dejectedly. "And I'll just continue to read this boring little document."

Donna ruffled his hair as she got up, squatting to pick up the thrown cards.

"Sorry about that."

"You weren't mad at me or my cards," Donna smiled. "Just frustrated at the world in general. You didn't ruin them."

"You just gonna photocopy them?"

"Yeah…I'll put them all on one page."

"Make me one too."

"Will do."

Donna photocopied the cards, and set off in search of Toby.

"I have some data cards for you."

Toby glared at her.

"These are the salient facts from the reading that Mr. Ulrich gave us."

"How badly did Josh screw up this meeting?"

"What?"

"I asked how badly did he shoot his mouth off and piss this guy off?"

"He was actually quite well behaved."

"If he was well behaved, the guy wouldn't be calling the Governor directly."

"Josh presented exactly the line Leo asked him to."

"So you're saying this is Leo's fault?"

"I'm saying that I don't think that Mr. Ulrich would have liked anything any representative from the campaign would have said."

"But we could have made him see that we weren't going to take his bullshit!"

"And if Leo hadn't said that this was an important meeting, people we couldn't piss off too badly, I'm sure Josh would have. Leo's thing was try to appease him, but don't promise him anything."

"So the jackass went right to the Governor."

"Right."

"And now we all have to deal with this."

"Right."

"Fuck."

Donna nodded, and headed out the door. At the entrance to Governor Bartlet's private office, Mrs. Landingham sat a plush chair with her feet up. Donna smiled.

"How are you today, Mrs. Landingham?"

"I'm tired honey. What can I do for you?"

"I have this data for the Governor."

"Go on in."

"Oh…I…"

"It's okay honey, he's in a better mood. Save me the trip."

"Yes, ma'am."

Donna knocked firmly on the door.

"Come in."

"Hello, sir, I have a summary of the data from the file that Mr. Ulrich gave us, for you from Josh."

"Thank you, Donna. Close the door for a second."

Donna closed the door, and turned back to the Governor.

"You sat in on this meeting earlier, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, I know Leo was supposed to take this meeting originally, how prepared was Josh for this meeting?"

"Leo told Josh around 2 last night—"

"2am?"

"Yes, sir. And in the morning we retrieved Leo's files from Margaret, and read through them on the bus ride to Phoenix."

"So factual preparation was good."

"Yes, sir."

"What other guidance had Leo given?"

"He emphasized that this was an important meeting—"

"Yes, it was."

"—but that we didn't have time for Mr. Ulrich's agenda at this stage in the campaign, sir. So Josh was to go into the meeting and listen to his agenda, but not promise anything."

"And this is what he did?"

"Yes, sir."

"And—I don't mean to sound rude—but how did Josh go about this?"

"Sir, are you asking how cocky he was?"

Bartlet smiled. "Yes. Yes, I suppose I am."

"Josh was very well behaved, sir. Very polite, listened, but as instructed, he told Mr. Ulrich that we would fully hear his position when we took the White House, but 4 days before the election was no time to be adjusting our position on an issue."

"I see. Then that asshole was playing me."

Donna was surprised to hear the obscenity. "Um, it appears that way, sir."

"Thank you for clearing all that up for me, Donna. Leave the paper. I'll look it over. Ulrich may be playing the game under the table, but I bet his data has some point that I've overlooked."

"Yes, sir."

"Ask Toby and Sam to come to see me in 15 minutes, and we might be able to adjust a sentence or two in my social security rebuttal. Tell CJ and Josh I don't need to see them on the flight, will you?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'd like to be able to let Mrs. Landingham rest."

"Of course, sir."

"Donna, do you enjoy working for Josh?"

"I do, sir."

"He's good to you? Doesn't work you too hard?"

"Well, sir, we work hard, but he's good to me. I enjoy it."

"Good. He needs someone like you to organize him. Did he tell you that he'll be Leo's deputy if we win?"

"Yes, sir."

"I do hope he keeps you on."

"We haven't talked about it, specifically. We had some general conversations to the effect of 'when we take the White House…', but nothing specific."

"Well, I hope he does soon."

"Thank you, sir."

"Have a nice night, Donna."

Donna returned to Josh half an hour after she originally set out.

"What the hell took you so long?"

"Interesting story," Donna smiled, sitting beside him.

"I gave the photocopy to Toby, who glared at it—"

"And?"

"Then I went to drop it off to Mrs. Landingham, but she sent me directly in to see the Governor."

"Really?"

"So I had to hand the notecards directly to him—"

"And he grilled you about the meeting."

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I told him how it all went; our, well, your mission from Leo—"

"My attitude…"

"Yes, that too."

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told them that you were very professional. You were on your best behavior."

"Who's them?"

"Toby had the same question—"

"Why do they think that I can't control my temper ever? Yes, I get a little high strung, but I can be professional if I try really hard."

Donna smiled. "I don't know."

Josh sighed.

"It's fine now, though. Everyone's on the same page, and the Governor is pissed that Ulrich played him. He's looking over the data I had, and may make a small tweak or two, but no major shifts."

"Thank god."

"He's meeting with Toby and Sam in a few minutes, but everyone else is off the hook."

"Good work."

"It wasn't me."

"You got everyone to realize that it wasn't my fault—"

"I told everyone the truth—"

"Same end."

"The Governor thanked me too."

"Yeah?"

"He grilled me about whether you're a good boss."

"Am I?"

"Usually."

"Uh huh," Josh smacked her playfully. "Really, though, you still like working for me, right?"

"Of course I do."

"Good. You wanna keep working for me when we take the White House, right?"

Donna nodded.

"Good. I need you. You just…understand…the way I work like no one else…and I appreciate it."

Donna smiled, and felt herself blushing. "Thank you."


	29. Chapter 29

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (28/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N:

"So I hear you saved us on the Ulrich thing."

"I cleared up the common misconception that Josh screwed up."

"He really didn't?"

"No, CJ. He did exactly what Leo told him to do."

"I'm just asking."

"Everyone's asking. First Toby, then the Governor."

"Leo?"

"Surprisingly, no."

"Surprisingly?"

"Well, Josh was pretty drunk when Leo called."

"Ah, not exactly confidence inspiring."

"If you recall, you and Sam got us toasted."

"In fact, I don't recall much about last night."

"Me either."

"You don't?"

"No. There are large gaps. Josh says we beat you guys at darts…"

"I've played darts?"

"CJ!"

"No, I remember playing darts…in the vaguest of terms…I remember throwing them."

Donna laughed.

"So Leo wasn't actually one of the ones to chew Josh out for the Ulrich thing?"

"The more I think about it, he was expecting it."

"And he didn't warn us?"

"Probably better that way."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Think about it: Josh trying really hard to achieve something, or Josh knowing that he's just giving the guy lip service?"

"Leo didn't want the attitude to come out."

"My guess."

"Have you shared your guess with Josh?"

"Not exactly."

"So when did Leo switch this meeting? None of us knew until after that Josh was taking it."

"Margaret knew. Leo called late. It wasn't long after we left Sam trying to cart you up to your room."

"That was a comedy of errors. Wait—were you there when Leo called?"

"Yeah…he was trashed CJ. I had to make sure he didn't hurt himself."

"Okay…Did you answer the phone when Leo called?"

"No, he did." In fact, Donna didn't exactly remember the phone call. She knew it occurred, and that it occurred late, but everything after leaving the bar that night was fuzzy.

"What did Leo warn him?"

"I don't remember CJ! I told you, that night is blurry."

"So you were there with Josh, in his room, very late, and it's all a blur? Just what the press spokeswoman wants to hear."

"CJ!"

"Donna, the story you've told me so far, should probably stay between us. That's the kind of story that fuels gossip columns."

"We work late all the time. I'm in his room till all hours every night."

"I'm sure you're roommate loves you coming back in the middle of the night—"

"She loves being able to sleep with whomever she wants, whenever she wants, and not worry about my walking in on it."

"Not worry?"

"You know what I mean—"

"No, I don't."

"She's asleep—"

"Donna, do you stay in your room with Ginger?"

"I—"

"Answer the question."

"Not in a while, no."

"I am going to rip—"

"CJ, no! It's not what you think, really, its not."

"Your relationship with Josh—"

"Is professional—"

"Donna, if you're sleeping in his bed, its not just professional. Has anything—"

"We've never done anything…"

"You don't sound so convinced."

"I…"

"Does Josh remember what happened last night when you both went back drunk?"

"No…"

"Fuck. Donna, be careful. I'm sure he means well, but Josh doesn't always think things through. This is a bad idea."

"I know."

"At this point, with four days left of the campaign, what is, is, but Donna, if we go to Washington…"

"We've got to get more professional."

"Yes. I'm sorry that it has to work that way, but yes. I assume he's keeping you on?"

Donna nodded.

"Good. You keep him in check like no one else can. Just be aware of that line."

"I will."

"Now, I'm beat. You should go get some sleep while you can. Long day tomorrow with the debate."

"I think we've got the war room set up already."

"You're not working through the night?"

Donna shrugged. "Its still early. Only 11."

CJ shook her head, and started down the hall. "I am taking advantage of the 6 hours of sleep I get."

Donna waved goodbye to the older woman, and headed toward their war room of the day. Josh sat at a table, in dim light, reading from a large stack of briefing memos. His tie was strewn across the table, and his shirt partially unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up. Donna stood in the doorway and watched him for a moment before entering.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Education."

"Exciting?"

"Ha."

"You should get some sleep tonight while you can. Every night left we travel through the night."

"I know."

"You don't sound convinced."

"I'm never going to catch up on this reading."

"Do you need to before the election at this point?"

"No…"

"Come on then. Get five or six hours of sleep, so you're in top form for all the debate prep tomorrow."

Josh stood up, and Donna led him toward the elevator, flicking off the lights as they left the room.

"We're at debate prep all day, right?"

"Yeah. You're the campaign representative, with Leo trying to milk donors—"

"That's a disturbing image."

Donna laughed, and continued. "We're not going to any of the rallies, we'll be dealing with site set up and that kind of thing."

Josh nodded. "Who's our point person?"

"Evelyn Clark."

"Right. Remind me of that tomorrow when I forget again."

They arrived at their room, and Donna opened the door. Josh trudged in and flopped onto the bed.

"You know, now I'm tired. I wasn't before."

"Well, that's good…maybe you'll actually sleep."

"I do actually sleep, when I lay down to do it—"

"Its just getting you to that point."

"Right."

After a moment of silence, Donna sat down on the bed, and said quietly. "CJ knows."

"Hmm?" Josh propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her.

"CJ knows I still stay here."

"How?"

"I accidentally mentioned that I was here when Leo called in the middle of the night last night, though I don't actually remember the phone call."

"Was she pissed?"

"A little. Not too bad, because there's only four days left."

"Yeah…did she ask what time Leo called?"

"More or less…which of course I couldn't answer."

"You passed out, I think, while I was on the phone with Leo."

"Did I?"

"I think so…I almost didn't answer the phone becau—oh shit…" Small details from the evening before were creeping into Josh's mind, and suddenly, he was almost positive he had kissed Donna. Why couldn't he remember that?

"Oh shit what?"

"That would have been bad if I hadn't answered, because it was in important call." Josh looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember something, any detail, about kissing Donna.

She lay back, and turned on her side to face him. "What did you just remember?"

"I…uh, nothing. My mind's just racing all over the place."

She looked at him for a minute longer, but he wasn't elaborating. Donna got up and pulled out her usual pajamas.

"I'm gonna get ready for bed. You should too. Josh?"

"Hmmm?"

"I said you should get ready for bed."

He nodded, and followed her with to the bathroom door with his eyes.

When Donna reemerged 5 minutes later, Josh was laying under the covers in his boxer shorts and t-shirt. She crawled in and scooted beside him. Josh wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him.

"Thank you again for standing up for me today."

"And the tally grows."

"CJ?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm glad I've proved them wrong…though I imagine I'm going to get quite the lecture from CJ tomorrow…"

"I think so…sorry."

"No one knew for over a month—"

"No one said anything for over a month—"

"There was no proof."

"And now, unfortunately, there is."

"What now?"

"Four days left."

"Yeah...four days." Josh pulled Donna as close as he could, resting his nose against the back of her head, breathing her in. That kiss was going to make this harder than he ever imagined. He guessed it was good that she didn't remember it, his memory was going to be difficult enough to remedy. He just had to make sure it didn't happen again.


	30. Chapter 30

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (30/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: There is large chunk in this chapter that comes directly from Season 3's "Bartlet for America". In re-reading that again, I realized that I mixed up the time frame a little. The last debate, on 10/30 is nine days before the election per a direct quote (though I'm not convinced that that works out to make election day a day that it could actually be…) Anyways, that's what I'm going with now. I'll g back and fix chapters 28 & 29 to reflect that the meeting in question occurred 10 days before the election.

"This answer is still too long."

"You're been pouring over that for an hour now."

"It's too long."

"Sam and Toby say it isn't."

"You know he never sticks to the answer we've set. If the answer on the paper is 90 seconds, then the segment as a whole is too long."

"Sam said that they made him do it six times."

"And he speeds that up to get it over with, so—"

"Under actual conditions he—"

"Loves the audience—"

"And takes lots of dramatic pauses."

"Hence our problem."

"What can we do about it?"

"I've got to get him to take out the stuff that prick coerced him to put in."

"He didn't really want to put it in."

"But he did. He gave in and added something. To an answer that he went over on—"

"Just barely."

"Doesn't matter. Over is over."

"It wasn't over enough that he couldn't finish the last sentence."

"When you start to get cut off by the moderator it looks bad."

"Well, he did cut some stuff for the new answer."

"Important stuff."

"Was it?"

"More important than this…this…is pandering. That asshole got pissed off, and the Governor doesn't want to alienate his group 9 days before the election, so he's pandering!"

"He's not—"

"Yes! He is!"

"The answer is not all that diff—"

"The old answer was fine! Vastly superior to Maguire's. This all makes our position unclear. We're not taking a stand!"

"Calm down."

"It just makes me so made that we worked so hard on one answer for so long, and it kicked ass in the last debate, and now he gets screwed into changing it in the 11th hour, and now he's going to look like an idiot was he gets cut off—"

"What is this reading at?"

"It reads cold at 85 seconds. That's with me reading it, without pause or any real inflection. I can't do it any faster than 85 seconds without racing. The Governor usually adds between 15 and 20 seconds of personalitiy."

"And the old one?"

"70 seconds, cold. And we were usually very, very close to the cut off."

"Maybe if he's determined to keep the new stuff, you could throw it at the end so that that's what gets cut off?"

"I wish it were that easy."

"But?"

"But we need closure in the answer. It needs a beginning, middle and end, otherwise—"

"It doesn't look thought out."

"Right," Josh ran his fingers through his hair. "Where the hell is Leo?"

"He's probably still with those CEO's."

"He should be back by now. He was going to go over some stuff with me before the Governor gets here—"

"Which is anytime now. I don't know how far behind they were running."

"Right."

"Should you call him?"

Josh looked at his watch. "I'll give it a little longer. I don't want to interrupt this meeting if I don't have to."

"Have you eaten?"

"I had a thing earlier—"

"What kind of a thing?"

"Danish?"

"And that's it?"

"That's all I had time for."

"You hungry?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm guessing you are."

"I could eat."

"Could you eat in like an hour, after this orientation with the Governor."

Donna nodded. "You need to eat something then too."

"Fine, fine."

"And not a charred, hockey puck of a burger—"

"Fine—"

"Chicken maybe, and a veget—"

"I said fine!"

"Its freezing in here."

"Not that cold."

"Can I wear your sweater?"

"No, I need my sweater."

"You've got your button down."

"So do you."

"Half sleeves."

"Well, whose fault is that?"

"I thought you weren't cold."

"I'm not cold. 'Cause I'm wearing my sweater."

"I'm freezing."

"So you've said."

"Isn't it bad for it to be so cold in here?"

"It's cold because its empty."

"When people get in here it'll warm up?"

"Body heat."

"Oh, and stage lights."

"Uh huh."

"Can I please wear your sweater?"

"Donna…"

"For now?"

Josh pulled his grey sweater over his head, proffering it. "This is a temporary arrangement. If I'm too cold, I get it back. When the others get here—"

"You get it back."

"It's just—"

"I know."

"It's obviously mine, and—"

"You'll get it back when the others arrive."

"Am I actually more prepared than you are?"

"Bite me."

"What a kind sentiment."

"I'm not unprepared for the weather. Just for this damn room."

"Hence unprepared."

"Josh!"

He grinned at her, dimples out.

"Sometimes your ego—"

"You don't like?"

Donna scoffed, but the truth was she alternated between finding his ego unbearable, and unbelievably sexy.

"Here they come!"

"Yeah…" Donna started to peel off the sweater.

Josh reached out and touched her arm. "Keep it on for now." He strode out to greet them.

A moment later the whole team marched in. The Governor walked out to the middle of the stage, and looked around. People began to bustle about.

"How's it been going?" Sam asked, as he and Josh huddled around the podium.

"Things are in good shape. We need to fix this answer though."

"Josh, her name is Evenlyn right?" CJ asked as she walked past the two men.

"I think so."

"You think so?"

"Ask Donna."

CJ continued in her path, beckoning Donna to follow her. She sent the younger woman off on a mission.

"Is Donna wearing your sweater?"

"Yes," Josh answered very matter of factly.

"Why?"

"Because it's really cold in here with so few people."

"Ah…"

"Sam, we need to fix this answer not dwell on the location of my sweater."

"CJ's beckoning us."

They walked over to where CJ and Toby stood.

"Where's Leo?" Sam asked.

"I'd still like to over the Social Security answer," Josh interrupted. "We gotta get it down to 90 seconds."

"It's down to 90 seconds," CJ sighed.

"It's not—and they're gonna cut him off."

Josh began to walk over to wear the Governor stood, beside a TV monitor on a cart. The rest of the group followed slowly.

"I put a stopwatch on him," Sam argued. "When he just speeds up…"

"When he speeds up, he speeds up. When he doesn't…It's 90 seconds. We need to cut some more."

"Which words?" Toby demanded.

They arrived beside the Governor, who was hunched over slightly.

"Governor, what do you think? Governor?" Josh asked. "Sir, we were just saying on the Social Security answer…"

"No."

"…it's a tight 90 seconds, and…"

The Governor looked at the floor, swaying slightly. "No, no. Not now."

Josh scoffed, and looked to the others, trying to find support. "Well, we gotta do it now, sir."

The Governor suddenly reached to the TV for support.

"Something's wrong," Toby observed.

"Governor?" CJ asked.

"Yeah."

"Governor?" Josh questioned. "Sir?"

"G'abbey…"

"You wanna sit down?" Sam asked.

"Let me get some water," CJ called, turning to find a bottle of water.

"G'abbey…"

Toby translated, "He's saying, Get Abbey."

"Get Abbey!" Josh called, hoping that Donna was around to make sure that that happened quickly.

The Governor lost his balanced again, and pitched sideways. Sam caught him, with Toby and Josh quickly providing assistance.

"Whoa…" Josh sighed, somewhat in shock.

Sam and Toby continued to hold the Governor up until an agent arrived to help. As they continued backstage, Josh paused, and pulled out his cell phone.

It rang several times before Leo answered. "Yeah."

"Leo, the Governor's sick."

In the background, Josh heard the buzzer of Leo's hotel suite.

"Okay."

"He collapsed. You gotta get down here….Leo."

"Okay." Leo clicked off the phone.

Josh stared at his phone for a moment. Donna came running up.

"Dr. Bartlet is on her way in."

Josh nodded, taking a deep breath.

"You okay?"

"That was surreal." Josh wasn't sure if he meant the situation with the Governor, or the state he fear Leo was in.

"It must have been terrifying…I was over there talking to Ms. Clark for CJ, and suddenly everyone starts yelling…Josh?"

"Huh?"

"Is he going to be able to continue tonight?"

Josh shrugged, and looked at his phone.

"I've gotta go back up Leo, right now. He's not that far away. Call me the second you know anything about the Governor."

"You're leaving the site right now?"

"I won't be gone long. Keep it quiet. Only tell people if you have to."

"Josh?"

"There's so much going on I doubt they'll miss me."

"But—"

"I am helping Leo out. Here we're just waiting."

"Is everything okay?"

"I hope so."

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"You are my eyes and ears here till I get back. Call me, keep me up to date. Go."

Josh turned, and jogged out the door of the theatre, leaving Donna watching after him, confused.


	31. Chapter 31

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (31/35?)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N:

Breathless, Josh rapped on the door to Leo's hotel suite. He had jogged the whole 10 blocks from the debate site.

"There's a buzzer!" Leo bellowed from inside.

Josh banged on the door again. "Open up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Leo flung open the door. "Josh."

Josh strode into the room, and looked around. The room was a mess. On the coffee table, were ashtrays with partially smoked cigars, empty glasses, and an empty bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue. Strewn about were the nips from the mini bar, whiskey and scotch mostly.

"Jesus…" Josh rubbed his eyes.

"Josh—"

"What the hell happened, Leo?"

"Josh, I—"

"You were supposed to be at the debate site two hours ago! The Governor collapsed, everything's a mess…you're a mess…" Josh looked sadly at his mentor, his anger abating.

"I slipped, Josh. I slipped…"

"How?" Josh asked quietly.

"These guys, the CEOs…they brought our that bottle…I said no…I did…but its 50 year old Scotch, Josh! So—"

"You had some."

"More than some. I—"

"You drank everything in the room, Leo—"

"I---How's Jed?"

"I don't know yet. Donna's gonna call me."

"He just fell?"

"Got dizzy, and fell, right as we were going on about the Social Security answer. It was really bizarre."

"Abbey there?"

"Yeah."

"We gotta get down there."

"Leo."

"What?"

"You can't go like this."

"I'm fine—no…no I'm not."

"You need to clean up and rest it off a bit. Have some coffee. There's nothing we can do right now anyways."

"I'd like it if the others d—"

"I don't intend to tell anyone."

"Don't lie about it though."

"Not my story to tell."

"Don't lie, Josh."

"I'm gonna need a reason you don't come back with me—"

"I'm a little under the weather, which is true…I've got a bad headache, which is true. Just don't make something completely up."

"That's the story then."

"I'll be okay by the debate."

Josh nodded. "If there is a debate."

"Jed'll rally."

"I hope you're right. Go get cleaned up, I'll clean up out here."

Leo turned and walked toward the bathroom, still a little unsteady on his feet. Josh grabbed the trashcan and began picking up bottles. His cell phone rang.

"Yeah?"

"Hey."

"What do we know?"

"Ear infection."

"How is he?"

"Dr. Bartlett took him down to the couch of the theatre's green room. He's to take a nap for an hour, and she'll check him over again."

"Did she indica—"

"She thinks he'll be fine…"

"But?"

"But, she's reserving the right to say no."

"Okay…okay…how much longer is he asleep?"

"Half hour, or so."

Josh took a deep breath. "What're the others doing?"

"Pacing, mostly."

"We reworking any answers?"

"No. Toby said we're stuck until the Governor wakes up."

"Okay, okay. I'll be back in like 20 minutes."

"How's Leo?"

"He, uh…the situation—"

"Everyone's wondering where he is."

"Tell them…that the meetings…that's Leo's a little sick too…that the nonstop meetings were a little rough on him and he's got a killer headache."

"Is that the truth?—"

"I told him to rest, and to join us just before—"

"Is he okay?"

"Just a little under the weather."

"Should I send Margaret over?"

"No."

"Josh—are things really okay?"

"Donna---I can't get into details!"

"But—"

"Tell them what I told you to—"

"Josh…"

"Just do it! Stop asking questions!"

"Okay…" She was getting choked up, and he felt bad, but she'd never stop asking questions otherwise.

"I'll be back before the Governor's up." He clicked off the phone, and returned to cleaning up. When that was done, Josh opened the mini bar, checking to see I there was anything left that should be taken away. There was nothing left to confiscate.

"Leo! I'm leaving now! I'll come back for you at 7."

"Do we know what's wrong with him?" Leo asked, re-entering the room in a new suit.

"Donna said ear infection. Abbey's got him napping. He's getting another check up in half an hour."

Leo nodded. "I'm gonna call for some coffee, sit in this chair, and do the crossword puzzle."

"Do you need anything else?"

"Nope. Even though I'm feelin' much better now, I'm still in no condition to go down there. I trust your judgement."

Josh nodded. "Okay. I'll call you as soon as we have a decision." He turned, and trotted out of the room

Donna was waiting outside the theatre when Josh returned a few minutes later.

"How come you're not in there?"

"Its freezing."

"You've still got my sweater on."

"I'm thawing."

"You're supposed to be inside. My source of info."

"Dr. Bartlet declared that she wasn't going to wake him up for another half hour."

"Like in addition to the time that already existed?"

"Yeah, she said 5:30. And death to anyone who tried to persuade her to cave."

"Death?"

"That was the sentiment."

"Where are the others?"

"Toby is growling over the very beginnings of his speeches for election day—"

"Good, good to start that now. Multiple options?"

"I think so…a win speech and a lose speech."

"Good."

"CJ and Sam are playing Monopoly on Sam's laptop."

"Are all the details hammered out with Evelyn Clark?"

"We did most of that earlier. CJ touched base with her, and all seemed well…there's really nothing else she can do until we have the Governor. Then they'll need to set sound levels and such."

"Has Maguire's team been around yet?"

Donna shook her head. "No one. They're driving in at the last minute—"

"Trying to prove that they can pack more into one day than we can."

"Right."

"At least no one was here to witness that. That would have been really bad."

Donna nodded.

Josh sat on the curb beside her. "When we go back to the hotel after this, I'm going to need you to pick out a suit for me. I have some stuff to take care of, and I might be running late."

"No dinner?"

"No time."

"You need to eat something."

Josh fished in his pocket for his wallet and tossed a $10 at Donna. "Grab something. For both of us. Something I can eat in my suit and not make a mess."

Donna nodded. "Anything else?"

"That's it for now."

"Are you in charge tonight?"

"For now I am."

"Is Leo going to be back for the debate?"

"Should be."

"What happened at his meeting?"

"Donna! I've already told you, that I'm not getting into details—"

"I'm just concern—"

"It was smoky…they big shots had cigars, after a while it gave him bad headache. He knows we're kind of at a standstill."

"But we're in crisis mode."

"I wouldn't call sitting on the curb outside the building crisis mode."

"Josh—"

Donna was cut off by Abbey coming out of the building. They jumped to their feet.

"Jed's awake and he's feeling much better. I think he'll be fine to continue tonight. He wanted to see you if I couldn't find Leo, and I can't find Leo."

"I'll go see him ma'am."

"Donna, dear, could you go to the vending machine and grab some peanut butter crackers or something similar? I want him to have a snack before his sound check."

Donna nodded, and headed back into the building.

"Where is Leo?"

"Resting in his hotel room."

"Why?"

"He's a little under the weather after his meetings."

"Should I be worried?"

"No, its just a headache, he'll feel better after his nap."

"Should I be worried.?"

Josh looked at her. "No, its under control."

"Okay, then. My husband's in the green room."

Josh trotted through the auditorium to the backstage area. He entered the green room, which was not green, and found the Governor sitting on the couch.

"Hello, sir."

"Josh."

"You gave us quite a scare there."

"Just a little off balance. I'll be fine. I'm wipe the floor with Maguire tonight."

"That's the spirit."

"Josh, where's Leo?"

Josh took a deep breath. "He's back in his hotel room, resting, he's got a headache after those horrible donor meetings. We got the money though."

"A headache?"

"Yes, sir."

"Has…is…?"

"Sir, I think that's a conversation for you to have with Leo. He'll be back this evening, sir."

Bartlet looked Josh in the eye and nodded.

"Good. Now what do I need to do?"

"First, your wife is going to make you eat a snack. Then we're going to go through the sound check, and the rest of your orientation to the space."

There was a knock on the open door, and Donna came in, bearing a package of peanut butter crackers.

"Sir, this is from your wife."

"Thank you, Donna."

"Anything else, Josh?" Bartlet asked.

"Sir, I would like to go over your social security answer again, once you've gotten your bearings in this space."

"You want me to go back to my old answer."

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Let me think about it. I'll be out in a minute."

"Thank you, sir." Josh stood, and led Donna out of the room with a hand on the small of her back.

"He seems much better. Looks like everything's going to be fine after all."

Josh nodded. He could only hope that everything ended up all right.


	32. Chapter 32

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (32/35)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13.   
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: The last few chapters have been coming quickly, because I've had lots of downtime at work. Expect more time between the last few. I think its going to be 35…

"Eat this."

"You got me a burger after all."

"You're stressed."

"You don't usually cave."

"I didn't get you fries."

"Ah, a side salad."

"I know it doesn't meet your criteria for being able to eat standing up—"

"Its fine. Dressing?"

"Light—"

"Ugh."

"Light Italian. In the bag."

"I'm gonna eat that first so that I can get rid of the salad taste with the burger."

"As long as you eat it."

Josh sat at the desk, and pulled the top off of the small container. "Do I have to eat the broccoli?"

"No." He began to pick the little green florets out. "But don't throw them out!"

She held out her own salad, and he dropped them in.

"What've you got?"

"Caesar salad."

Josh wrinkled his nose. "A bowl full of lettuce."

Donna shrugged.

"How come you get a nice, creamy dressing, and I get light Italian?"

"You don't like Caesar."

"No, but I like that one you dip buffalo wings in."

"Blue cheese? Nope, that one's way too bad for you."

Josh sighed and took the last bite of his salad. He picked up his burger.

"Mmm. Much better…but where's the cheese?"

"Hamburger."

"But I like cheeseburgers."

"But its not—"

"If you got my a burger because I was stressed, why didn't you get me the burger I like?"

"I still want you to eat more healthy."

"So, you want to comfort me, but not that much?"

"Josh…"

"Just a little, tiny, bit?—"

"Josh."

"Just enough to—"

"Are you done?"

Josh grinned. "I'll just suffer through my cheeseless—"

"Bite me."

"There's that lovely sentiment again. Is it an invitation?"

Donna smacked his arm hard, but blushed furiously. She wouldn't mind him biting her…nibbling on her ear…

"You're turning red—"

"I—"

"You're the one who suggested—"

"It's an expression."

"It is?"

"I…uh…"

Donna turned away from him, then turned back, and away again.. As smug as he was right now, there was a twinkle in his eyes that she hadn't seen all day.

"Did I render you speechless? Aww…you're flushed…"

Donna turned and smacked him again.

Josh caught the offending arm and grabbed her other. "Okay, okay. Hands to yourself."

Donna continued to try to hide her warm red cheeks, but he held her wrists and in such close proximity it was near impossible. She tried to turn her head, but his gaze remained on her. She turned her head and laid it against his shoulder.

"Why are you so embarrassed?"

Donna didn't answer, hoping he'd quit this line of questioning. It hadn't been an invitation, but the second he said that, her mind instantly went to that place that she'd been trying to keep in check for so long.

Josh looked across the back of Donna's head, trying to spy her face. She was nearly his height in heels, and couldn't get a good look. He released her wrists and wrapped his arms around her.

"What's got you?"

Donna shrugged, and he rubbed her back with the heel of his hand. She took a deep breath.

"Don't cry, okay?"

Donna giggled softly. "I'm not."

"Just making sure," Josh grinned. "Now, don't go getting makeup on my shirt."

"Oh!" Donna pulled away quickly, and examined the shoulder her head had been on. "There's nothing there."

"Good."

"But, did you look at your tie after you tied it?"

"Why?"

"Its very uneven."

"It is not."

"It is."

Deftly, she untied his tie, and began to rework it. "Hold still."

"When did you get so good at tying a tie?"

"My mom thought it was a skill every woman should know to be of help"

"To be of help?"

"Of my mother's quirks and outlooks about a woman's place, this one has proved most valuable.

"A woman's place?"

"We don't have time for me to get into that…" Donna sighed.

Josh looked at his watch. "No, we don't. We actually need to leave right now."

Josh swung on her suit coat, Donna grabbed a cardigan, and they left the room, walking quickly to the elevator.

"I'm prepared this time."

"I see that."

"Is Leo definitely joining us tonight?"

"I think so."

"You think so?"

"I have to go check him now."

Josh clicked the button for Leo's floor. The car stopped and Josh stepped out. Donna followed. He turned to face her, holding out his arm.

"I need you to meet us there."

"I can't come with?"

"I need to do this alone."

Donna looked him straight in the eye, curious. "Is everything going to be okay?"

"I think so…"

She nodded slowly. "Do you need me to do anything while I wait?"

Josh smiled softly. "No…just keep your eyes and ears open."

"Okay. It's getting on this street till the big intersection, and take a left, then a right at the next, and its there?""

"Right." She stepped back into the elevator. "Wait, Donna!" She pushed the door open button. "You shouldn't walk over there alone. Its dark already."

"I"ll be fine."

"No, no…I can't ask you to walk by your—"

"I'm a big girl—"

"Donna, that's not in question. I just—"

"I'll be fine!"

"What are you two arguing about now?" Leo asked, coming out the door of his suite.

"We were just coming to get you."

"Hi, Leo."

He approached them. To Josh, he looked vastly better. A neat, crisp suit, and the lucidity had returned to his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Donna asked.

"Much better, thank you." He caught Josh's eye, giving a slight nod.

Josh nodded in response. Leo was back on track. Maybe not completely sober, but back on track.

"Now, what the hell were you two arguing about."

"First, he tells me that I need to go ahead without the two of you, then he says I can't walk alone."

"He's right."

"But why?"

"Donna, you're a young girl. This is a pretty big city."

"I can handle—"

"I'm sure you could. But its not a gentlemanly thing to do. Given the option, a gentleman never lets a lady walk alone at night."

"Since when is Josh a gentleman?"

"Hey!"

"I think he showed good judgment in this case."

"Ha!"

She smacked his arm. He caught it, and twisted it behind her back.

"Okay, okay, enough you two. We don't need the press seeing these games."

Josh pulled away quickly. "Right."

They reached the lobby, and Leo turned to Donna, "Kiddo, could you go ask the concierge to call us a taxi?"

Donna nodded swiftly, and walked over to the desk.

"We'll talk after the debate."

"Okay."

"I know you have more questions."

"I do."

"I've got a lot to tell you about, just in case."

"Okay."

"Who knows?"

"I told you that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"What did you tell Jed?"

"That the two of you needed to have a conversation."

"Good. That was a good way to handle it. If he asks, I'll tell him."

"Okay."

"Do the others suspect anything?"

"For the most part no, they bought it."

"For the most part?"

"Two exceptions, not counting the Governor."

"Who?"

"Dr. Bartlet—"

"I figured as much. And?"

"Donna."

"Donna? She suspects?"

"Let me qualify that one. I don't think she suspects that you fell off the wagon. But she certainly suspects—no, she knows-- that I wasn't telling the truth."

"How?"

"Leo, I've never met anyone who can read me as well as Donna. It's nearly impossible for me to lie to her."

"Be careful with that. There are times you might have to."

"I know."

"Do little games like the one I just witnessed happen often?"

Josh shrugged.

"Be careful. I know you're close. I don't care about the games, as long as there's no way someone could see it. Got it? Be careful. Think."

"Is this a good time to lecture me about thinking?"

"Josh—"

"I'm sorry."

"I know I screwed up. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try not to."

Donna walked over. "Cab's here."

Josh was thankful for the interruption. He didn't like where this conversation was going. He placed his hand on the small of Donna's back, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Leo.


	33. Chapter 33

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (33/35)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: This was the hardest chapter for me to write, out of the entire series so far. 2 more chapters.

"After all that—"

"He kicked ass!"

"Yeah."

"He—"

"Was incredible."

"He had the crowd mesmerized the whole time. You'd never know he was sick earlier."

"You should go join the others at the bar."

"You're not coming?"

"I've gotta go take care of something."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Leo?"

"Donna…I just need to go talk to him."

"Is it bad?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay…"

"Go, have a good time."

"Come join me when you're done?"

"Maybe."

"Come on."

"I'll stop in. I won't promise I'll stay."

"Fair enough. See ya later!" Donna called as she walked away down the hall.

Josh sighed and turned toward the elevators. He made the trip, once again, to Leo's suite and rang the buzzer.

"Amazing, you rang, like a normal person."

"You took off awful fast."

"I saw the Governor back to the hotel, had a word with him, and said good night."

"Does he know?"

"We didn't discuss it. There were other, more important matters, like where our focus needs to go for the next 9 days now that we've walked all over Maguire."

"So what weren't you telling me earlier?"

"Waste no time getting to the point."

"Never been my way."

"It was a slip, Josh. It's not gonna happen again. And I'm not worried…"

"But?"

"But, there were other people around."

"People who don't know you're an alcoholic though, right? That's the whole reason you drank, right?"

"Right…they didn't know…but one of the guys, this Gibson guy, he forgot his briefcase. Came back for it an hour later—"

"When the nips were all over the table."

"Right. It was right as I was on the phone with you."

"So you were pretty far gone."

"I was really gone. And he saw it all."

"Do you think he'll speak out?"

"I don't know, I don't know the guy."

"Any clue?"

"No, sorry Josh, I don't know."

"Fuck!"

"I know, we're in a tough spot."

"Leo, this guy could screw this enti—"

"Don't you think I know that!"

Josh paced about the room. "So we just have to trust him?"

"We don't have a choice, Josh."

"I hate having to trust someone else to do the right thing."

"Sometimes you have to."

Josh sighed. "So what now?"

"We trust, and we move on. Tomorrow we're heading into our whirlwind trip through more states in less time than ever before. I'm going to be going back to DC for a few days, to make sure we're coordinated on all fronts, so I'll need you to keep the ball running on the road."

Josh nodded.

"Keep your head in the game."

"It's in the game."

"Keep it there."

"You bringing Mandy back again?"

"Naw, I just want you at your best."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Josh…"

"I'm in the game, Leo."

The older man nodded. "Good night."

"Night."

Josh wandered down the hallway, wondering if Leo was really insinuating what he thought he was. He slowly made his way down to the hotel bar, not feeling much like celebrating.

"Hey!"

"Hi."

"That didn't take long."

"No."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah…"

"You don't sound convinced."

"I—I just don't feel like partying right now. I told you I'd come by, but I'm going to go upstairs."

"Okay, I'll come—"

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

"Finish your drink." Josh started out of the bar. Donna followed.

"Do I look like I have a drink?"

"Why not?"

"I've been talking."

"I'm not in a good mood."

"You're often not in a good mood."

"Donna…go have a good time."

"Don't worry about me."

Josh sighed, and jabbed at the button of the elevator. They rode in silence. Arriving at their room, Donna quickly pulled out her card, and opened the door. Josh trudged into the room and flopped on the bed.

"You should get comfortable," Donna called, as she grabbed her pajamas and headed into the bathroom. When she emerged a minute later in his Mets T-shirt and boxers, he was still laying on the bed, fully clothed. She knelt beside him, and began undoing his tie. "Come on."

Josh sat up slowly. "It's early. I should do some reading."

"You're fried."

"I'll get a second wind."

"Or you could rest."

Josh kicked off his shoes, and undid his belt, letting his pants fall to the floor. He began to undo the buttons of his shirt, staring off at the wall.

"Josh…are things really okay?"

He didn't answer.

"Are they? Cause, I've never seen you down like this before."

"I'm fine."

"I—"

"I'm fine!"

"Josh, what happened with Leo?"

"Donna, why won't you take I can't tell you for an answer!"

"I just—"

"I can't tell you!"

"Why not?"

"Donna, there just some things I can't tell you…" Josh took a deep breath, trying to keep his temper in check.

"Do you not trust me?—"

"Donna! You know I trust you—"

"It doesn't—"

"Let me finish!"

The harsh tone of his voice made her recoil a bit.

"There are going to be things I can't tell you! It has nothing to do with trust…" He sat on the bed, dejected looking.

Donna sat beside him.

"The nature of my position, and, we hope, my future position, is that there are things I'm going to know that are for me only…it doesn't mean I don't trust you… I trust you more than I trust anyone…I really do…I just can't…I can't, Donna…I'm…I'm just frustrated today…"

He lay back staring at the ceiling.

"Because you have to shoulder the whole problem?" Donna asked, laying on her side, her head propped up on her hand..

"Yeah…I mean, its probably gonna be fine, but its just…I hate not being in control…"

"I know," Donna said softly.

Josh rolled on his side to face her, "I know you know."

They were suddenly very close. For a moment neither moved, but then, like a magnet, they were drawn together. Their lips met, and their legs entwined. It contained none of the sloppiness of their earlier, drunken kiss, but was just as intense. Where that had been fast and furious, this was slow and mesmerizing. Josh wrapped his arm around Donna's waist, and she ran her fingers through his unruly hair. He pulled her closer, his tongue continuing to dance with hers. She pulled back a bit, pulling lower lip with her teeth as she ran her hand up the bare skin of his back, under his shirt. Josh moaned, and rolled on top of her. They continued like this for a long time. Josh was aroused, really aroused, and for once, he didn't care, in fact, all coherent thought had left his brain, and all he wanted to do was continue to kiss Donna, and hold on for dear life.

Donna's fingers continued to dance along his back muscles, taking their time tracing each one. She gasped softly as Josh kissed his way down the side of her neck. He slid back up to kiss her lips, and she could feel just how turned on he was. She pushed him over, to climb on top of him, but they were too close to the edge of the bed and toppled to the floor.

For a moment, they lay there bewildered, in a tangled heap. Then Josh began to laugh. Hysterically. His laughter was infectious and soon Donna was laughing just as hard.

Josh sat against the side of the bed, grinning broadly.

Donna sat facing him, drawing her knees up. "You're in a better mood."

"Yeah…"

"Good."

"But…and I really hate to say this—"

"We can't do this."

Josh looked sadly at her. "No, we can't."


	34. Chapter 34

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (34/35)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: I hate when you find the transcript with the information you looked for over and over AFTER you've posted the chapter you wanted it for.

"Where did this come from?"

"Huh?"

"This isn't your tie?"

"You know my ties by heart?"

"You have nice ties."

"This isn't a nice tie?"

"This is a crappy tie."

"No."

"Yes."

"So you're saying that I have good taste."

"I'm saying that this isn't yours."

"I didn't tell you the story?"

"What story?"

"The tie story."

"There's a tie story?"

"I can't believe I didn't tell you this!"

"You were distracted last night."

"Yeah…"

"Well?"

"So we were in the green room—"

"Where was I?"

"I'd sent you to talk to the woman—"

"Right. Okay, go on."

"So we were in the green room, and out the back door—the one that led to the alley—we hear the Governor yelling 'Oh shit! Oh shit!'. So, of course, we all ran out there. He'd been sneaking a cigarette—"

"Oh no!"

"And he lit his tie on fire--"

"No!"

"So Sam got the tie off him quickly, and he's okay, just shaken. But then, Dr. Bartlet's laying into him about the cigarette, giving him a really hard time. Toby's freaking out that she's destroying his focus—not to her of course, to me and CJ. The stage manager peeks her head out to call places, Leo says we need to move, Dr. Bartlet's still going on about how he shouldn't be taking risks like that with his health, and the stage manager comes out again and says he really, really needs to be in place now. He starts to follow her, cutting off his wife—"

"Without a tie?"

"Right. I realize this, and pull mine off, and slip it around his neck. CJ fusses with it, and makes it straight…we're walking the whole time, and she finishes, just as he gets to the curtain. She gives a nod, and he walks through. The rest you saw."

"Okay…okay. But how did you get this tie?"

"I was walking to the spin area, and I realize that if I'm going on TV, I need a tie—"

"So?"

"So I found this kid—an intern—he was doing some tedious listening task for Toby—and demanded is tie."

"You just demanded it?"

"Yeah. I said, 'I need your tie', he looked up at me scared, but immediately removed it, and handed it over."

"Any idea of his name?"

"Ask Toby."

"Got it. Are you finished packing yet?"

"I'm ready."

"You didn't fold a thing, did you?"

"It doesn't make a difference if I do. Stuff still comes out a wrinkled mess."

"All of that needs to be dry cleaned, badly."

"No time."

"I know. Have you seen the itinerary for our final push?"

"That bad?"

"We're scheduled 7am to midnight every day."

"Bus rides through the night?"

"Travel every night. Sometimes bus, sometimes plane. Until next Monday. We're in Manchester for the long haul."

"Its gonna be a long week."

"This order doesn't make sense. We're jumping back and forth between coasts."

"We're hitting the right states at the right moments. Leo worked hard to plot this out, and he's going to keep tweaking it from DC."

"He's not going to be on the road with us?"

"He's got some coordination to do, and work to get things in order for election day."

"Are you in charge?"

"He needs me to keep things moving on the road."

"You, staying on schedule?"

"I stay on schedule."

"Speaking of schedule, we need to get moving."

She grabbed her bag, and pulled open the door. He followed.

"What's up first?"

Donna grinned. "For the person who going to be keeping us on schedule, you should know what's up first."

Josh laughed, and turned to face her, walking backwards. "Okay, okay. We both know who's really going to be keeping the group on schedule."

Donna smirked. "Glad you realize that."

"You keep track of the schedule. I'm the Enforcer."

"The Enforcer?"

"Yup."

"Is that some kind of superhero?"

"You bet."

"Okay, if you're the Enforcer, what am I? What's the Enforcer's sidekick's name?"

"The Organizer."

"I can deal with that…the Organizer. Oh, stop!"

"What?" Josh asked, colliding with the elevator. "Oh."

"I told you to stop."

"I heard you."

"But you didn't."

"No."

They stepped into the elevator.

"Teach you not to listen to me."

"I listen to you."

"Usually."

"Usually is good enough."

Donna smacked his arm, hard, and he caught it, and held tight.

"Always with the violence, Donnatella."

"You sound like my mother."

"Hear that often?"

"Quite."

"Really?"

"I used to beat up my sister all the time."

"Your older sister?"

"Yeah. And mom would get really mad at me and bring out my full name. It was the only time she really used it."

Josh laughed and squeezed her hand. Donna smiled and squeezed back. The doors opened, and they saw the lobby was bustling with activity. Josh gave Donna's hand one last squeeze before releasing it.

"Governor, again, nice job last night. Now if you could just look at—"

"Thanks for that tie, Josh."

"Well, yours was kind of out of commission, sir."

"Could I keep the tie?"

"Sir?"

"It brought me good luck. It's a good luck tie."

"Umm…sure. You can certainly keep it if you'd like, sir."

"I'd like to wear it on election day."

Josh nodded. "You're not going to take it out on me if—"

"Are you implying that you think I might—"

"No, sir. I think we'll win."

"That's what I want to hear from the man I'll be taking advice from for the next week."

"Yes, sir."

"You're going to try to keep me on schedule? You realize how hard a task that is?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

Bartlet laughed.

Josh patted Donna on the shoulder. "It's a team effort, sir. Donna tells me when its time, and I'm the Enforcer."

"The Enforcer?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're in good spirits about it now. We'll see how you feel about it come Sunday. What did you want to show me?"

Josh handed him a document. "If you could just look at this on the bus on the way over to the YMCA, sir. It's some data that I had Donna cull about their influence in the community."

"Will do." Bartlet strode off towards the bus.

"He seems to think it's funny that you're going to try to keep him on schedule."

"Sam! Do you have a finished copy of the Governor's remarks at the YMCA?"

Sam jogged over to them. "I thought I did."

"But?"

"But Toby is reworking it."

"He does realize that this is a 10 minute bus ride across town?"

"I think he's aware. He's on the bus already."

"So the first time anyone besides Toby is going to hear this, its going to be at the podium?"

"I'm afraid so. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go be his whipping boy. He retools faster if I'm there to pick on."

Josh laughed. Donna fished around in her bag, and pulled out the tie.

"Sam, could you find out whose this is? Josh borrowed it from one of the communications interns last night after he gave his to the Governor."

Sam took the tie. "I was wondering where he got it. There was so much going on, and I was just busy getting the burning one off of him…it was yours."

"And now he wants to keep it," Josh sighed.

"Good luck?"

"Something like that."

Sam laughed, and trotted off toward the bus. CJ darted over to them.

"I'm getting questions about where we think we'll fall off the schedule today."

"You doubt my schedule keeping skills too, CJ?"

"Well, you're not exactly Mr. Organized—"

"That's why I'm the Enforcer. And I have my sidekick, the Organizer!"

CJ chuckled. "Anyways, that's not what I'm getting at. No matter what, the Governor falls off the schedule—"

"Not with m—"

"Josh, as much as you'd like to think you're a superhero, we all know it happens every day. Pick an event on there where you think we'll really begin to lose time."

"Why do they care?"

"If we end up skipping a stop, their outlets like to be able to plan for that and save expenses."

"We're not out to save the media money."

"Just look it over."

"I will on the bus."

"Or rather, you'll make me do it on the bus."

"All the same."

The three of them walked out to the bus.

"Toby's on the war path today," CJ warned. "I don't want to sit with him."

"Toby's just pissed that the Governor's been riffing on his material," Josh grinned.

"Don't worry, CJ. He's picking on Sam."

Donna slid into the row behind Toby and Sam, and CJ was about to slide in next to her, but Josh shoved her further on.

"I need to sit with my assistant."

"I'm sure you do…" CJ muttered.

Josh flopped down beside Donna.

"That was mean."

"What?"

"You pushed her kind of hard."

"You hit me kind of hard earlier."

"So you want me to look at the schedule and see where I think we'll lose time?"

"I'm determined to stay on schedule."

"I'll look it over, and give CJ my estimate." Donna pulled out the paper.

Josh snatched it away. "It will never work if the Organizer is convinced we'll never stay on schedule."

"But—"

"Fine. But give that back."

"Nope, you'll just let CJ know behind my back."

Donna grabbed for the memo. She caught Josh's wrist. He trapped her hand with his other. With her free hand, she continued to grab for the paper.

"Aww…can't reach? Oww!

Donna pinched Josh hard, and the paper fluttered to the ground. Donna lunged over Josh for it, kicking the seat in front of her. He caught her waist, and she kicked out again.

"Will you two stop that?" Toby bellowed, turning around in his seat to see what the commotion was.

And what a sight he saw. Donna was sprawled across Josh, reaching for the aisle. He had his arms around her waist. Toby shook his head and bent down to retrieve the fallen schedule. He handed it to Donna, who sat up as Josh released her.

"This is how you keep your head in the game?"

"Oh, did Leo coach you on that one?"

"Josh, what are you talking about?"

"That's how Leo put it."

"That you need to keep your head in the game? You do. But no, he didn't coach me. I don't need to coaching to see what's—"

"My head's in the game."

"The game was on the floor, and your head was on your lap. You were trying to keep the game out of it."

"Huh?"

"Think about that one, and I'm going to get back to fixing these god-awful remarks." He turned around and flopped down in his chair.

"Did Leo really—"

"Don't worry about it."

"But—"

"It's not a big deal."

"Is that what was going on yesterday?"

Josh laughed. "No…no…Donna, I would have been able to tell you that. We talked, and then he briefed me on this week, and told me to keep my head in the game. In those words."

"But he was talking about—"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Is this a problem?"

Josh looked at her softly, and leaned in, whispering, "We can't let it be."

"I know."

"We have to be…on our best behavior."

"Things like last night can't happen."

"Yeah…" Josh trailed off.

"What?"

"Do you…do you think we'd have stopped…do you think our consciences would have kicked in…if we hadn't fallen off the bed?"

Donna looked into his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know."

"Me either."

"I mean, in my head I know we can't, but…"

"Yeah…"

"Should I stay with Ginger again from now on?"

"Do you want to?"

"It's not really about what I want."

Josh thought for a minute. "I think we're fine the way we are. I mean, last night, after we, uh, fell…we slept just like normal."

"Is our normal good enough?"

"It has been for several months…Donna, we've got a week left…after that…if we win…there are gonna be a lot more rules."

"Yeah."

"We can keep our heads in the game, and share a room still."

Donna nodded sadly. "We can."


	35. Chapter 35

Title: The Path Which Has Led to the Present (35/35)  
Author: Aerial312  
Rating: PG-13  
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance (a little of everything)  
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing…I just borrow.  
Feedback: Greatly appreciated. Sure. Just let me know where its going.

A/N: As this is the 1998 election, I used the 1996 electoral map as a jumping off point for Josh's electoral math section. The number of votes that some states have changed slightly after the 2000 census.

"I need the new—"

"The new exit polls aren't out yet."

"How did you know I was going to ask for the exit polls?"

"You've been asking for the exit polls for an hour."

"They're not out yet?"

"Nope."

"We need them."

"I'm well aware."

"I—"

"You need to calm down."

"These numbers are important."

"I know."

"Who the hell do we call—"

"We wait."

"I hate wait—"

"No, really?"

"Donna—"

"They'll be here any minute now. Relax, Josh. You got the last set, you went 'Good. Good. Good. We should follow up on Pennsylvania. Good.' Are you expecting this set to be vastly different?"

"No, but—"

"Then relax."

"I have nothing to do."

"Relax."

"I can't relax. I don't find sitting around doing nothing relaxing. I'm not that kind of guy."

"Sit."

"Hmm?"

"Sit in the chair. Head down on the desk."

"Am I getting a time out?"

"Just put your head down."

Josh did as he was told. Donna crossed behind his chair and began to rub his back.

"Mmmm."

Donna ran her hands down his back, and squeezed his side, working her way back up to his shoulders. She rubbed slow circles, pressing hard with her fingers tips, working on shoulder at a time.

"Neck…" Josh murmured.

Donna brought her fingers up to his neck, and slowly kneading her way up to his hair. She toyed slightly with the bottom of his unkempt hair, not sure whether giving into her urge to run her hands through his hair would be a good idea.

"Mmmm."

This encouraged her, and she slid her fingers into his thick curls.

"That feels so good."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm…"

Donna continued playing with his hair.

Suddenly, Sam burst into the room. "I've got the polls! Oh, uh, hi."

Josh sat up straight. "How are they?" He reached out for what Sam was holding, but didn't get up.

Sam eyed the two curiously. "They're fine. What we've expected. Still up."

"Good. Good."

"Leo wants a full staff meeting in ten minutes."

Josh nodded, and looked up at Sam, who was lingering in the doorway. Sam caught his eye briefly, before leaving.

"See, what did I tell you? No surprise in the results."

"Yeah…"

Donna picked up packet that Sam had handed to Josh.

"We're still down in Pennsylvania, but not as much as before. You think that'll rally?"

Josh stood up and looked over Donna's shoulder.

"From that, I think so. It's still one of our big play states in the east. That's 23 electoral votes. We lost Florida—"

"We weren't expecting Florida though—"

"Right. We were counting on Pennsylvania though."

"Polls close in an hour in the East."

Josh nodded, and started for the door. Donna followed.

"I get to come to this, right?"

"Sam said full staff."

"Great."

They arrived at the war room, and moved to the front of the room, where CJ, Sam and Toby were sitting.

"These are good," Josh commented, waving the exit polling data.

"Except Pennsylvania," Toby growled.

"We're gonna rally."

"There's an hour left!"

"We can win without Pennsylvania," Sam pointed out.

"Barely," Toby growled.

"We can do it."

Leo took his place at the front of the room.

"Folks, quiet please! Now, this round of polling data looks good. Thoughts?"

Josh began, "Well, with an hour left on the East coast, there's no question that we're gonna take Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Mass, RI, Connecticut, Jersey, DC, New York and Michigan. That's 99 electoral votes. Maguire's gonna take Florida, Georgia, both Carolinas, Virginia and West Virginia for sure. So 78. Ohio and Pennsylvania are still in play. Ohio'll probably swing Maguire, so he'll end up with 99. I think that Pennsylvania is gonna swing our way, which will leave us with 122 leaving the most heavily packed time zone. It'll—"

"Josh, did you just do all that math in your head?"

"Yeah," Josh looked up from the polling data, and grinned.

"He's been doing this in various forms all week," Donna laughed.

"You know all the vote counts by heart?"

"Of course."

"And exactly where the time zone cuts off?"

"Which is why we won't know about Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee until the polls close in Central. All have portions that are in that time zone. Well, we'll probably know Michigan, but they won't call it until Central closes."

"Impressive, Josh."

"We need to take a look at Texas, even though it seems like a long shot, continue to watch California, which we're gonna get, and Arizona is polling strangely. It think everything else is gonna fall like we planned."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll follow up on those. Next meeting in an hour when the polls close out here. We'll have new data from the rest of the country then too."

The group dispersed, and Josh remained sitting in his chair, scribbling all over his polling data.

"That was incredible."

"You heard me do it before."

"All hypotheticals, which you'd worked out for some time. This was off the top of your head."

"I've looked at the map so many times and for so long that its ingrained in my brain."

"You can't stop grinning."

"We're gonna win this thing."

Donna smiled. "You should eat something."

"You're always trying to get me to eat."

"If you ate on your own—"

"Yeah, yeah. Come on."

Josh placed his hand on the small of Donna's back, and led her out of the room.

"It's midnight."

"By all indications we've won?"

Josh nodded. "Just a formal announcement's left."

"CJ and Toby are drinking already."

"I like to wait until its official. If you want to join them—"

"No, I'll wait."

"Tomorrow we need to get started on getting your security clearance. We'll be able to put it on a fast track, but it's a lot of paperwork, and we should get started."

"So much for waiting till its official."

"I said tomorrow."

"I'm just teasing."

"My mind is racing with all that's going to need to happen."

"It's exciting for you."

"It's new."

"You should start looking for an apartment in DC tomorrow too."

"When are we going back?"

"Probably tomorrow. Definitely by Thursday. You can stay at my apartment until you find a place."

"Okay."

"Probably you'll find a place quickly, but not be able to move in till December 1st."

"You don't mind my staying that long?"

"Donna…I…I've shared hotel room with you for seven months, I can share my apartment for one."

"Okay."

"You can stay on my big comfy couch…or whatever…"

"I thought we needed to stop the…uh…"whatever"…"

Josh sighed. "We do."

"Is it a good idea—"

"It's a month. We can play it by ear?"

"We won't be in the White House yet."

"Right."

"But…"

"Yeah."

"We should start to…uh…wean…ourselves…"

Josh nodded.

Donna sank into a chair beside him. "This sucks."

"We're going to be so busy—we won't even notice. Hell, we're gonna be working 12, 15 hours a day."

Donna nodded. Josh clasped her hand.

"They're getting ready to call!" CJ bellowed from down the hall.

Josh squeezed Donna's hand, and pulled her down the hallway. "Anything yet?"

CJ shook her head, and returned her gaze to the TV. Josh scooted up to the front of the crowd, and Donna stayed in the back.

"At this point, we are ready to call California, Oregon and Washington for Governor Josiah Bartlet of—"

"Wooo!" Josh screamed.

The whole room erupted into a frenzy of hugging and congratulations. CJ hugged Leo, and threw herself around Toby. Sam had Ginger up in the air in a big hug. Toby shook hands with Josh, who was grinning at Donna across the room. He wanted badly to fling himself into her arms right now.

"Come here!" CJ grabbed Josh's chin and pulled him into a big, sloppy kiss.

"Woah there!"

"Oh Joshua, get over it," CJ laughed, before pulling Sam into a similar kiss.

Josh smiled, and caught eyes with Donna. With all the kissing going on, there was no reason not to pull her into his arms. Quickly he crossed the room, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She spun to face him.

"Josh…" she whispered, surprised at his sudden attention in the crowded room.

"Shhh…" He pulled her into a sweet, but short kiss on the lips, and kissed her cheek before pulling her into a deep hug.

"Was that a good idea?"

"Did you see the kiss CJ just gave me?"

"No."

"This kiss was tame."

Donna laughed. "There she goes again."

"I think she's gonna kiss every guy in the room."

"Should you—"

"I'm right where I wanna be right now."

"But—"

"You know I couldn't have done this without you, right?"

Donna smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You won me over, said I might find you valuable someday—valuable is an understatement."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sad to see the campaign end."

"Me too."

"It's been such an incredible experience—"

"Wait till we get to the White House."

"Yeah…"

"It's going to be so busy. I'm going to need you to keep me sane and calm-ish."

Donna laughed. "I'll be there."

Josh pulled back to look straight into her eyes, kissing her cheek swiftly, and squeezing her hands, before turning to go talk to Leo. Donna watched him go, her hand lingering on the cheek he had kissed. She was torn between elation at their win, and sadness that this thing with Josh couldn't continue. It was going to be quite a trip, these next few years.

"We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present" -Adlai Stevenson

FIN


End file.
